Keibatsu
by brown phantom
Summary: NEW POLL! People have had dark plans for Naruto ever since before he was born. When he found out exactly what those plans were and who made them, he swore they'd suffer for their greed and arrogance. No matter who they are or think they are, they will be punished. Vengeful NaruHina. Konoha bashing, Yondaime bashing.
1. Chapter 1

_This story was inspired by the works of VFSNAKE, one of my favorite authors here. Elements from various stories of his are used here, with his permission, but overall I will try to be unique. Also, I want to give credit to artist Taladromarplatense on DeviantArt for the cover._

_Also, I want everyone to know that this was originally planned out and written months before Tobi's real identity was revealed, so that part won't be canon here. Then again not everything will be canon either. That's the beauty of fanfic, I don't have to stick to canon._

Chapter One

Deep down everyone wants attention, appreciation, to know that we are not unwanted. It is a basic need and part of our human nature. Isolation is something we all fear, as much as we fear death or boredom. Loners, the socially awkward, and hermits can handle it better than most, but even they need some form of company once in a while.

However, isolation can be a good thing in small doses. There sometimes is an advantage to being ignored. Uzumaki Naruto knew this all too well, especially on the night he uncovered something that would only bring about destruction. His own or others, only time would tell.

It was the night after he had been tricked by Mizuki into stealing the Forbidden Scroll, the night after he earned his right to be a ninja after years of struggle and neglect, and the night after he learned of his involuntary burden.

He was naturally brought to the Sandaime Hokage and forced to explain himself. The old man gave him a stern lecture, but expressed gratitude that Naruto stopped Mizuki from making off with the scroll to whoever he planned to give it to. Naruto took it in stride, but he had one question he really pushed.

"Why did the Yondaime choose me? I mean I understand I was born on that day, but wouldn't someone from a clan have Kyuubi instead of me? Someone who could be watched and protected?"

Over and over he asked that, and Sarutobi tried to get him to change the subject. Until finally, he ended up replying. "Minato had to protect the village, and sealing the fox away was the only available way to do it. Your parents believed you would be best to handle the responsibility, and he wished for you to be seen as a hero for your part in keeping the fox at bay. Unfortunately Konoha ended up refusing to obey his last wish."

Naruto was wide-eyed to hear this. "My parents? But you always said you never knew who they were." The old man tried to hide it, but Naruto could tell he realized he had slipped on something.

"I didn't, but the Yondaime told me that before he died." Sarutobi covered, knowing if Naruto had some proof, everything that was planned would all go downhill.

"So the Yondaime knew them? Did he leave anything for me so I'd know about them when I was old enough?"

"No, he did not." Sarutobi answered, a bit too quickly to seem like a normal response. "The Kyuubi attack was sudden and unexpected. He had no time to leave you anything for future use."

"But he _did_ have time to talk to my parents and plan out the sealing?" Naruto asked, not seeing how that made sense.

"Naruto, I'm afraid there are no answers for what you're asking, and asking the same question over and over again will not change the answer. Now please, go home and get some rest. Just remember, the Yondaime only wanted the best for you. I'm sorry the village however has different ideas. Someday you will get their approval as long as you work for it and stay loyal to Konoha."

Naruto went home without objection, but he knew that the old man was hiding something from him. There had to be something left behind to give him some clue about who his parents were. It was unlikely the Yondaime would have chosen just _anyone's_ child to save Konoha. If he did, why not a child who was already orphaned? Sarutobi's answer was phrased to imply that his parents had indeed been alive when the Kyuubi attacked, so he wasn't an orphan just yet. And since there were thousands of people living in Konoha at the time that were still alive, it would be statistically impossible for _no one_to know who he was related to. He just needed some kind of clue on who could give him some answers.

So the next night, he sneaked back into the hokage's office to find something. Apparently Sarutobi had not been expecting someone to try this twice so there was no raised security.

After being out of office for thirteen years, the Yondaime didn't have much left in his old office except for his portrait. Naruto searched as quickly as he could, checking everything that wasn't nailed down, until at last he found the thing that would change his life forever.

It was a file, kept under a false bottom in the bottom right drawer of the desk that Naruto accidentally opened, and it was labeled 'Yondaime's Plan/Sandaime's Log'

Naruto couldn't resist, though sometimes he would later wish he had.

It took a day to read it all and let it sink in, and for a long time Naruto was in massive denial about it, but without someone to talk to, he couldn't really convince himself the contents of the file were wrong.

The file had been divided into two parts, the first part written by the Yondaime Namikaze Minato, and the second part written by the Sandaime Sarutobi Hiruzen. Minato's part came first, and Naruto felt this was the segment most likely to mention his parents, so he started there.

According to Sarutobi, the official story was that on the night the Kyuubi appeared, the demon fox had appeared so suddenly that the best they could do was hold it off until Minato could appear and seal it away, with only a newborn baby being able to survive the effect this would have on it's chakra coils. Naruto had coincidentally been the only newborn available that day and coincidentally his parents had suffered grave injuries that killed them the same day. But they lived long enough to offer him to Minato to save Konoha. Minato lost his life in the sealing process but asked that Naruto be seen as a hero for his part in keeping Konoha safe, and when Konoha's masses were told they called for his death without a second thought. Thirteen years later, that second thought had still not appeared though some had at least decided Naruto was no longer worth killing on sight.

Naruto may not have been as smart as Shikamaru, but even he knew that story had holes in it. How could the fox have appeared so suddenly? Surely something that size would have given some kind of signal that it was coming, like how the sky darkens before a storm arrives. Why would the Yondaime already know of a seal to contain the Kyuubi in a human being? Why would he learn that in advance unless he intended to use it? If such a seal existed, then did that mean someone else had the Kyuubi inside them before he did? How else would they know that a baby could survive but an adult couldn't? And if there had been a previous jinchuuriki, what happened to them? And most importantly, why on earth would no one in Konoha trust their most revered leader to do his job properly at keeping them safe from the fox? They praised him nonstop for destroying half an army all by himself with a jutsu he invented, and yet none of them trusted him to make a proper seal and thus Naruto's mere existence was a threat to their own?

It didn't make sense, and Naruto at first believed that the Sandaime knew but couldn't explain it to him yet. Why? He had no idea, but he had to believe the old man wasn't keeping him in the dark for the wrong reason.

As it turns out, the reason the official story had so many holes was because it wasn't the _true_ story.

According to the files he took, there indeed had been a jinchuuriki before him. Two in fact, an Uzumaki Mito and an Uzumaki Kushina. Naruto was stunned to see their names. Were they his relatives? Did him being a jinchuuriki have more to do with his family then him being born at a specific ideal moment? Neither women looked like him based on their descriptions, but he couldn't help feeling like he finally had a clue to his family.

Sadly, this would be the most pleasant shock of the night. From there, it all went downhill. Written down right before his eyes was something completely different than what he had been told.

When he finished reading everything, Naruto's world had completely shattered beyond repair. What was written down was the most horrible thing he had ever heard in his life. Not sure how to handle this, Naruto zoned out. He wanted so desperately to refute this, to believe this was a hoax. But why would someone trick him like this? What was there to gain? It's obvious Sarutobi never intended for Naruto to see something like this as it would risk turning Naruto against him, and with some of it being written in his own handwriting Sarutobi clearly knew what this file contained so someone couldn't have planted this in his desk hoping Naruto would sneak in and find it. Even if it was a forgery, why create this as a trick? Logically, the only real option was this file contained true information.

Still unable to fully accept that, Naruto became catatonic to his surroundings, so he didn't notice when his apartment turned into a sewer.

**"LISTEN DAMMIT!"** A booming voice called out, snapping Naruto back to reality.

"Huh? What? Where am I?"

**"About time you noticed. I've already called you four times."** The voice commented. **"Come here. I suspect you need someone to talk to."**

'He's right.' Naruto said, walking down the hall until he found a gigantic room with a set of barred doors in front of him. Behind those doors was someplace very dark, but he knew there was something there best unseen. He was proven right when he saw two red eyes with black slits for pupils and a mouth full of fangs. "Are you the Kyuubi?"

**"I'm sure as hell not the Ichibi."** The fox muttered, but Naruto didn't respond. He just looked at the fox. It annoyed Kyuubi, but not as much as the fact that the blonde looked so defeated. He expected his young host to be afraid, confused, or even angry when seeing the captive demon for the first time. Instead, Naruto looked dead on the inside. **"Hey kit, say something."** Naruto remained silent, looking down at the water-covered floor. **"Okay, I will then. I know you're confused and hurt, and you may not like this, but what you read... is true. I was there when it happened."**

"How can I know that? How can I know anything anymore?" Naruto asked, quietly and quite unlike himself.

**"You cannot ask any of the adults. If they learn you know of their plan they'll execute you immediately. And no one your age will listen to you or take you seriously, except that young white-eyed vixen those papers mentioned. She would. So ultimately, she and I are actually the only ones you can trust anymore."**

Naruto now looked up at the giant fox. "How do I know I can trust _you_?"

**"It's simple really. Right now you're hoping this is all made up. Even though you have no idea why anyone would fabricate such a story, you _want_ to believe it's wrong. But the only safe way for you to confirm or deny the story is to ask someone who was there when I attacked. And the only one you _can_ ask is me."**

Naruto sighed. "You're right. But how can I know you're not lying too?"

**"I'm going to do something I've never done before, let you see a memory of mine. The memory of that night."** Kyuubi offered.

"That could be a trick. A genjutsu. Foxes are skilled tricksters after all." Naruto claimed, suspicious.

Kyuubi grinned. **"True, but even a trickster knows how to be honest and sometimes even liars do tell the truth. But I can prove to you this is not a genjutsu."**

"What? How?"

**"A genjutsu for the most part is like a dream, only instead of it being voluntary, it's involuntary. And even though dreams always feel highly realistic, that's only while you're dreaming. Once you stop dreaming they barely felt real at all for more than a few moments at best. Genjutsus work the same way. They feel real while you experience them, but once they end you just know they never were. It's why victims of genjutsus usually don't acquire phobias of what they experienced."****  
**

Naruto nodded slowly and Kyuubi continued. **"Memories however work differently. Memories are in fact based on real experiences, and thus when they are at the front of your mind they feel more real than a dream ever could. Try to recall a dream, then try to recall a memory. Don't you notice a subtle difference in how both make you feel?"**

Naruto tried it, mostly to see what the fox was talking about. He recalled a dream he had once when he dreamed of doing something that would make people cheer for him. It felt nice but Naruto himself felt no different than before. Next he remembered a time when a group of villagers on his birthday beat him to near-death and an Anbu stopped them before they could finish the job. A strange sense of phantom pain and mental recoil came over Naruto. "I... felt something with the memory."

**"Exactly. The effects of memory last even after the memory ends, but a genjutsu's effects last only as long as the genjutsu itself does. Therefore if I show you something, you'll easily be able to tell for yourself if it was real or just an illusion."** Kyuubi told him, and saw the blonde was still hesitant. **"What do you have to lose by trying?"**

Naruto could not come up with an answer. "How can you show me your memories?"

A small trickle of red chakra came from behind the bars, forming a sort of tendril of energy that hovered in front of the whiskered blonde. **"Here, touch that and you will be able to see what I saw the night I escaped my last prison and placed in this one. You can stop at any time. I must warn you though, you won't like what you see. I sure didn't."**

Cautious yet desperate for an answer, Naruto slowly reached out and placed his hand on the red chakra.

* * *

"You're almost done Kushina. Just one more push." Sarutobi Biwako told the ailing mother-to-be.

Kushina grit her teeth and bared down one more time, wanting this to end before the already-weakened seal was at it's limits. 'Damn that bastard for doing this to me! I'd kill him if it wouldn't land me in prison. That sucks big time. He rapes me until I conceive and yet if I seek justice _I'm_ the one who'd get arrested? Why the hell did HE become hokage? That should have been me! Sarutobi must be getting senile to think that ass Minato knows anything except hurting others.'

"The Kyuubi's trying to escape!" Uzumaki Taji, one of Kushina's female relatives and a member of Konoha's small Medic Anbu division, kept here to secure her seal worked, called out. "I need to strengthen it!"

"Don't!" Biwako shouted. "If you do you could hurt the baby!"

"If I don't the demon will get out!" Taji countered. Adding credability to her claim, red chakra started to form an animal face on Kushina's stomach.

"I said don't do anything!" Biwako demanded, rather harshly.

"Do you _want_ the Kyuubi to get loose?" Taji asked.

"Yes, I do." Biwako said with a sadistic smile. At the same time Naruto was out and made his first cry of life.

"What?" Kushina and her relative asked, unable to believe they heard the old woman right. All the while Kyuubi was clawing it's way out. Kushina started to scream from something other than labor pains and her relative tried to reinforce the seal.

"Oh no you don't." A voice called out, followed by a tri-pronged kunai thrown at the Uzumaki who deflected it. "That power's mine!"

"Minato?" Kushina asked, fearful of what he was doing here. "How did you get here?"

"I killed half an army and bested the raikage. You really thought your pitiful defenses could stop me? Also, thanks Biwako for leading me here."

"No problem Yondaime-sama." The old woman told him. "It's a boy by the way."

"Don't care. That's not important." Minato said, appearing by his kunai thanks to the hiraishin.

"You bastard!" The Medic Anbu shouted, knowing she had to stop him before she could work on the seal while he was this close. She turned to defend herself, but he had a regular kunai out and stabbed it in the back of her neck.

"Why are you doing this?" Taji managed to ask as blood filled her mouth.

"Because I can and am entitled to. Might makes right in this world." He answered smugly as she went limp and died.

Kushina wanted to fight, but Kyuubi's chakra surging kept her from doing little more than screaming and slightly thrashing, unable to move much after being weakened from birth. In her anguish she could now clearly see Minato, and he certainly looked different than before. His hair, face, and clothes looked the same, and he had that 'I'm the most powerful man in the universe' smile on his smug face again, but his eyes, once sapphire blue, were active sharingans.

Kushina was shocked, and in her struggle she also saw Biwako holding her newborn son, looking at her triumphantly. "Thank you Kushina for refusing to abort the pregnancy, even if it was rape-caused. Thanks to you, Yondaime-sama will make Konoha into what Kami-sama intended it to be: the only power in the world."

"Damn you! Damn you Minato!" Kushina managed to declare as Kyuubi began to truly break free. She knew there was no stopping it now. "You're crazy if you think you can do this!"

"I can do anything, and I'm entitled to have everything." Minato claimed, watching the Kyuubi's growing chakra with interest.

"You lowlife! You actually believe the world revolves around you?" Kushina yelled.

"Maybe not yet, but it will once I'm done with it." He stated.

Kushina convulsed, and Kyuubi was finally getting out. Minato watched with interest, waiting for the perfect moment to make his move. He was quite surprised when Kyuubi seemed to stop and hover above Kushina almost protectively, still connected to her and looking like a chakra projection rather than a real creature.

"What is thi-?" Biwako asked, but was silenced when Kyuubi extended a claw that ripped her head off and harmlessly scooped up Naruto before the body fell. Kyuubi then brought it's hand back and handed the infant to Kushina.

"Kyuubi?" Kushina asked, frightened for her child who looked unharmed and surprised her trapped demon chose to help her right now.

Minato frowned, getting over his own shock at this. "So you choose to defy me beast?"

**"You are a fool Namikaze if you believe you can control me or expect me to let you. I may not like being trapped in Kushina, but I'll take that over being a part of your sick plot any day." **Pausing for a moment he let out a sadistic smile showing his teeth.** "Besides, if Kushina hates you then we can see eye to eye or tail to tail."**

Minato frowned hearing this coming from the kitsune. "You don't have a choice Kyuubi. I have the power to do whatever I want, and thus the right to do whatever I want. And I want you to be MY weapon, not that sluts."

Kyuubi snarled, getting more solid and disconnected from Kushina. **"You force yourself on a woman and dare call her such a name? I'd call you a bastard, but that would be an insult to Kushina's kit."**

"Kyuubi, why are you helping me?" Kushina asked, holding a crying Naruto close to her.

The fox's image seemed to waver for a moment, as if it was having a hard time stabilizing back into the outside world, and it's eyes briefly left Minato to look at her before back to the blonde. **"I'd rather be _your_ prisoner than _his_. Leave it at that."**

"I will have y-!" Minato shouted, ready to subdue the fox the second it was completely separate from Kushina, but there was a bright light that blinded his active sharingans, preventing him from doing anything. When it faded, there was a large hole in the cave wall and Kushina, Naruto, and Kyuubi were gone.

Kushina passed out for a moment, but when she came to she saw she was in a forest outside Konoha. Naruto was still in her arms, and Kyuubi was sitting down looking that them both. Now the fox was solid and completely free of her seal, but roughly the size of a tiger.

"Kyuubi?" She asked, her voice strained and still filled with fear.

**"Fear not Kushina, I mean you no harm."** The fox demon replied.

"Why not?"

**"Because... I have no reason to hurt you."** Kyuubi answered, sounding like he was hiding something.

"Even so, why did you help me?" Kushina added. "I thought you hated me and wanted nothing more than to be free."

**"Of course I want to be free. What creature _likes_ being denied freedom?"** Kyuubi replied. **"If I don't help you, that smug jerk will try to trap me all over again. At least you never regarded me like I only existed to be used."**

Kushina looked at her baby. "He looks so much like his father."

**"No!"** Kyuubi forcefully interjected. **"That man is no father. He is a soulless monster that deserves to be castrated, viewed as a rapist, not a parent. He is not your kit's father."**

Kushina didn't respond right away, remembering the day Minato used several suppressing seals to keep her bound while he repeatedly violated her until she conceived, and all because childbirth was the best way to weaken the seal for him to take Kyuubi out of her. She nodded after a moment. "You're right, you're completely right. This is _my_ son, not his, and I'll be damned before I allow that son of a bitch to have any claim to my child."

**"What will you name him?"** Kyuubi asked.

Kushina looked at the fox. "Kyuubi, would you be offended if I named him in your honor?"

Needless to say, the demonic fox was quite surprised. **"You... really would do that? Why?"**

"You have always been my protector in your own way, and you have even protected my son too, even if it was mostly in your own interest. And I know you will not abandon us or else you would have done so. Besides, my family and others have dishonored you by treating you as a slave. Allow me to do this as a small way to apologize."

The nine-tailed youkai was speechless. Initially he thought she was bluffing, but he detected no negative emotions or intentions behind her words. Kushina really wanted to make amends to the fox. Feeling a bit flattered, he smiled. **"This would be a great way to hurt Namikaze's pride. Go ahead."**

"Do you have a name?"

**"Yes, though I've never told it to anyone before. Not even Mito. I am Kurama."**

Kushina arched an eyebrow. "Like the Kurama clan?"

**"It's a coincidence. I have no affiliation with them."** Kyuubi/Kurama told her.

Kushina smiled and looked at her son, seeing his blue eyes for the first time. "My son, I shall call you Kuramamaru Uzumaki."

**"Kushina, that man wants to seal me into your kit. You are not strong enough to fight back and he's likely prepared to fight against me. We must do something to protect the kit."**

Kushina nodded. "I will. And I know just what to do."

Kyuubi grinned and wagged his tails, but quickly tensed and stood up, fur bristling. **"Someone's coming. Run Kushina. Now!"** He then grew to full size and roared.

Kushina briefly froze, but her maternal instincts kicked in and she got up and ran. Despite having given birth not more than half an hour ago, her Uzumaki bloodline allowed her to at least move from the area as fast as a tired genin. Her frightened child, aching lower body, and severely depleted chakra system from the lack of Kyuubi, all made it impossible for even her to go any faster. But she knew he had to get away and fast, at least long enough for one thing.

Kyuubi stayed back to face the approachers, not surprised to see Minato riding Gamabunta. Accompanying him was Jiraiya, and at the base were many Anbu and all the clan heads. Even Tsunade and Sarutobi Hiruzen were there, and while that surprised Kyuubi, he paid it little mind. **'I must keep them away from Kushina and Kuramamaru.'**

"Stop the Kyuubi before it destroys Konoha." Minato told his troops, rallying them all, those in on his plan and those left out. No one seemed to notice or care that his eyes were not what they were supposed to be, probably because now his sharingans were inactive thus less obvious.

In his fury and rage Kyuubi created a bijuu-dama, aiming right at Minato. With a quick set of hand signs and a pre-made seal, Minato activated a space-time jutsu to send the attack to a deserted area. Most of the ninja were in awe, but Kyuubi growled. **'Damn, that's right. This lowlife and his Peeping Tom sensei stole jutsu from the Uzumaki. This won't be easy.'**

Sarutobi commanded the ground forces to get into position, and they started a direct assault to divert his attention. He swung his many tails, sending the insignificant fighters flying into trees and boulders, breaking many bones. Judging from their battle cries they thought they were driving him away from the village little by little, unaware that Kyuubi was only interested in keeping them from pursuing Kushina.

Many Konoha nin attacked him armed with whatever they had as weapons. It was much like a swarm of bees attacking a person, and Kyuubi was getting irritated. Then suddenly Gamabunta jumped and tackled Kyuubi, providing a little damage and knocking the fox off its feet briefly.

"Hold the fox for a moment!" Minato shouted.

"I'm not a miracle worker. I don't have enough chakra to do much to it." The giant toad countered, struggling to keep Kyuubi from getting back up. Kyuubi meanwhile tried to make another bijuu-dama, aimed low and directly at Konoha's armies. But before he could fire it, Minato used another teleportation jutsu to send himself, Kyuubu, Jiraiya, and Gamabunta away from Konoha.

The bijuu-dama went off destroying a mountain and the whiplash of the attack knocked Gamabunta off the fox. Kyuubi got back up and saw Kushina was being pinned down at sword-point by two women, both looking like they had won everything. One of which was Uchiha Mikoto, the only one Kyuubi recognized right away. The other one was too young to be full grown and had short black hair wearing a long-sleeved chuunin outfit, and she was holding Kuramamaru with her free arm.

Before Kyuubi could attack them, Gamabunta spat out a huge amount of oil, covering him and keeping him down. In that moment, Jiraiya and Minato created a seal of ropes and seals over Kyuubi, as if trying to net him down. The seals were effective so Kyuubi could not immediately get back up, and Gamabunta planted himself right on top of the fox to weigh him down further.

Minato walked up to the woman holding Kushina's son. "Nice work Shizune, Mikoto."

"You lay one hand on him and I'll-" Kushina started to threaten, only to be silenced by Mikoto slapping her hard enough to make her cough blood.

"Shut the hell up bitch! Don't talk to your betters like that!"

Kushina glared at the Uchiha matriarch. "When did you stop being my friend Mikoto?"

Mikoto smirked. "How could I stop if I never started? You were just a source of knowledge, nothing more than a book or scroll. No one befriends a book."

"You killed my family, you and that monster over there. You deserve to die like the beast you are." Shizune angrily stated, looking like whatever was keeping her from jabbing her katana into the redhead's neck wasn't going to hold much longer.

Kushina glared at Minato. "You will never succeed. Kyuubi and jinchuuriki cannot be controlled like mere machines."

"Oh but I will succeed in that. After all, I'm the strongest man in the world and, according to Sensei, the Destined Child, meaning the fate of the world is mine to do with as I please. I just need the power of the bijuu to make my vision a reality."

"You are not a Kami!"

Minato simply shrugged. "Not yet, but I will be." He then pulled out a kunai, holding it in a threatening manner. "You still have a chance to be useful Kushina. This child does need someone to ensure it lives to adulthood, and I'm not interested in filling that role. If you agree to never disobey me again I've let you raise the boy under house-arrest in Konoha. The worst I'll do to you is mute you so you can't fill his head with stuff that'll influence him the wrong way."

The redhead glared like she was about to create a chakra cloak without Kyuubi in her. Mikoto and Shizune were now struggling to keep her down. "I'm never going to let you have anything to do with MY son!"

"Oh, so unwise." With his kunai, he jabbed it into Kushina's neck, pulling it out quickly so she would bleed to death. "Do with her as you please." He told Shizune and Mikoto while he placed Naruto on a tarp bearing a seal and held down by a few candles.

Shizune and Mikoto started attacking her without mercy as Minato started the seals for the Dead Demon Sealing. Kyuubi thrashed even further at seeing this, while Gamabunta started using his blade to stab him in the back several times and Jiraiya reinforced the restraining seals. Soon the Shinigami appeared behind Minato, wishing he wasn't summoned for the reason that would take place.

Sarutobi and a few others showed up as this started. Those others being the clan heads, Tsunade, and the three elders. They saw that the sealing was being started so they stood back and watched with smug confidence, like victory was all but official.

Shinigami extended a marked arm towards Kyuubi. **"Curse you Namikaze!"** Kyuubi shouted.

"Seal!" Minato said without fear.

The hand took a hold of Kyuubi, and he felt a painful cold, as if his blood turned to ice and his soul was being ripped out of his body. Sadly that last part was true. His consciousness and chakra was being ripped out of his body which started to decay rapidly at the death god's touch. Gamabunta got away to avoid becoming an unintentional casualty, and Kyuubi tried to get up.

Minato quickly drew an eight trigram seal on Naruto with Jiraiya overseeing it. Kushina watched in horror as the last thing she saw before her vision went black was Shinigami taking Kyuubi's soul away and the seal on Naruto sucking it in as Kyuubi's body rotted to ash. 'My... son...'

Then she passed on.

For a moment, Kyuubi saw nothing, heard nothing, and felt nothing. Then one sound came thru the darkness.

"Did it work?"

From there a small glow was seen to him, like a lone star or candle, but nothing came into focus. More voices were heard though.

"I believe so. Kyuubi is contained again, and this time it will be used despite what Shodai-sama intended." That voice was clearly Minato.

"Absolutely. He was a fool to give the others away to other countries. Dividing power like that to avoid conflict? Ridiculous. The smart thing would have been to use the bijuu to kill off all the rivals. Who would stop us then?" Tsunade was heard saying.

"Are you certain the boy will not fall to the fox's influence?" Sarutobi asked.

"The seal we used was stronger than the one used on Kushina. Had it not been, Minato would be dead right now. Also, he used a separate seal to take half of the fox's chakra into himself but none of the soul so the fox wouldn't be at full strength and Minato would be able to resist the Shinigami anyway." Jiraiya answered.

"What about if the fox tricks the boy? Or worse tries to tell him about you?" Fugaku asked.

"We'll handle that part right now." Minato replied.

Kyuubi then felt a surge of pain but the place he was in got brighter. But not enough to actually see something.

"There. We added a failsafe to the seal. If this child ever releases too much of the foxes chakra, or gives up trying to contain it, genjutsus of myself and Kushina will appear in his mind, giving him some silly sap stories and promises to lift up his spirits and make him want to hold in the fox even more."

"Will he ever learn the truth?" Mikoto asked.

"Unlikely. Why would he believe the fox over his own parents? If he hears us claim to love him and want him to be happy, and the fox that the whole village hates says it's all a lie, who's he going to believe?" Minato asked back.

"So what do we do with it now?" Koharu asked. "You going to raise it?"

"Hell no! Me take care of a needy brat when I could be out doing what I enjoy? I couldn't care less what happens to him just as long as he doesn't die or grow up weak. Kushina was supposed to raise him, but since that's no longer possible thanks to her own foolishness I guess Plan B is all that's left."

"What's that?" Hyuuga Hiashi asked.

"Since I'm certain no one else wants to raise this kid..." Minato paused mainly because there was a chorus of various denials, all best summarized as 'Hell no'. "There's only one real option, let him raise himself. Have him be given just enough support to ensure he doesn't die and gets strong enough to be a usable ninja, but not so strong or independent that he can someday turn against us."

"What do you mean?" Nara Shikaku asked.

"This child will be left alone, supported enough to survive and allowed to be a ninja so we can use him against our enemies. To ensure he will not be a threat, at first he will be given the minimalist amount of training. Enough that he can survive but not enough that he can successfully rebel. Also, he should be mistaught on right and wrong so the idea of turning against Konoha will have no appeal to him whatsoever."

"Why allow him to become a ninja at all?" Homura asked.

"Because if he never becomes one he will be of no use in future battles. He will be of better use as a ninja than a civilian." Minato answered.

"Can I take him in my ROOT program?" Danzou asked.

"No. While your program would guarantee he would become useful and obedient, destroying his emotions will limit his ability to utilize Kyuubi's chakra when needed. A jinchuuriki's strength comes _from_ their emotions, not the lack of them. This boy must be raised to be emotional, able to be enraged, but not so much he will snap at any moment."

"I understand Yondaime-sama." Danzou replied.

"So the boy will become a social outcast, unaccepted by everyone and presumably ignorant of any connection to you or Kushina. How exactly do you plan to ensure he will listen to anyone? Let alone you?" Aburame Shibi asked.

"Here's what I propose. This boy will be mistreated and ignored by almost everyone in the village. They can do whatever they want to him as long as he never dies or becomes incapable of being a shinobi. Some people will have to act as confidants so he will have a sense of safety here, but overall he will feel unwanted and unaware why. Naturally this will create a desire to change that and make people like him. If taught appropriately, he will do whatever it takes to gain some measure of acceptance from anyone. Especially me once I get involved."

"What do you mean?" Tsunade asked.

"To make it more effective, and do a few more things I have plans for, I must leave Konoha on an extended leave of absence. Tell everyone I'm dead, killed by the Kyuubi so no one like Iwa will be tempted to strike us anytime soon. While hidden I will weaken Konoha's enemies and capture the other eight bijuu to use as well as the Kyuubi. If things go well, once I reappear in this boy's life and he learns I fathered him, he will be so desperate for my acceptance and approval of him he will do _anything_ I tell him, even kill a whole village of civilians on command."

"And if he doesn't?" Sarutobi asked.

"I will have him killed and Kyuubi resealed, and try a different approach that time."

"So no matter what Kyuubi will remain ours to control. And in time the other bijuu will be too. I approve." Tsunade stated, and soon all the others agreed. "One question, what will the boy be named?"

"He cannot be named Namikaze. He is undeserving of such a noble name and it would only alert enemies and confuse the villagers. Call him Uzumaki for now, so their name will be dragged through the mud by his infamy. As for personal name, I chose Naruto."

"Why?" Many asked.

"It's a name from an unpopular book I wrote. No one but me or those connected to me would think anything of it, so it's unlikely anyone else would share the same name." Jiraiya told everyone. "At the same time it's a bit demeaning so it's like an additional torment."

"I've got a question, if you're pronounced dead, doesn't that mean we need a Godaime right away?" Fugaku asked, barely hiding the mirth in his voice.

"We would, but unfortunately we can't so soon." Minato answered, much to Fugaku's shock and ire. "According to what will be reported, I died suddenly. Konoha law states my predecessor must take office first if capable. If Sarutobi doesn't, it would alert enemies that a ruse is being done. When it looks like no one is suspicious anymore, I will tell Sarutobi to step down and appoint you Fugaku as promised."

"And how long will that take? I gave you our clan's property Minato, you cannot weasel out of our deal." The Uchiha patriarch insisted.

"I have no intention, but to complete the illusion this must be done. Give it a year or two, and you will get your reward Fugaku."

"Okay, Namikaze Minato died in battle resealing the Kyuubi away. I will get Konoha to be hostile and/or apathetic to young Naruto here with some people selected to act the role of supporter to keep him from giving up anytime soon. He will be molded into serving Konoha no matter what and will never be strong enough to become a threat to it. I also will need to give him legal godparents so he legally will not fall under the laws that protect and privilege orphans." Sarutobi reiterated.

"Jiraiya-sensei, Tsunade-bachan, will you do it?" Minato asked.

"No way. I'm not raising that reminder of why Dan-kun died. Just looking at him makes me think of Kushina and what she did to him." Tsunade angrily proclaimed.

"You don't have to raise him. It's just a formality so he can't be in the orphanage and people who attack him can't be prosecuted if his guardians don't press charges." Sarutobi told his student.

"Well that I can approve of. Okay, but it's just on paper. As far as I'm concerned, he's no safer to be around than Kushina was." Tsunade bittered reply.

"Thanks. And Jiraiya-sensei, I'm going to need you to teach him a thing or two in time mainly to get him ready to be used by me when he's old enough."

"I can handle that, as long as it doesn't keep me from my research." The toad sannin told his student.

"Good. I think everything's settled then."

"Where will you go? How will we contact you?" Sarutobi asked.

"You won't. I'll contact you when I need to hear or say anything. And I'm going to check out where the other jinchuuriki are and learn about them before I make my move to take them." Minato answered.

By now Kyuubi could briefly see into the real world. He saw from Naruto's location all the clan heads of Konoha looking at each other with pride or himself with hate. Minato then pulled out a mask, an orange one with a spiral pattern around a single eye hole for the right eye.

"Remember, for now Namikaze Minato is dead. Until I return, I am simply... nobody." He dawned the mask and disappeared in a space-time jutsu.

**"Damn you Namikaze! You'll burn in hell for this! You and everyone who supports you!"** Kyuubi shouted on deaf ears before everything went black again and he was forced asleep.

* * *

**"And you know the rest."** Kyuubi told the whiskered blonde when the memory finished. **"The old man you know told you that this rotten place and the people in it refused to obey that man's wish for you. But the truth is this entire time they've been doing _exactly_ what he asked them to do."**

Naruto felt sick to his stomach, which was an odd thing to experience in a mindscape, but that didn't stop him from dry-heaving. "It's... it's not a lie. They all... they really did that to me? To my mom? Why? Why for the love of Kami-sama would they do that?" He then felt a burning sensation in his eyes, making him cover them with his hands.

**"Because the people who run this cesspool of a village only care about one thing: Power. Power they can control. Power they can use to show off and act like Kami's in their own arrogant way. They stole your mother's life, they stole my freedom, they even stole your name, all so they can make their already gigantic ego's even bigger. Greed is a dangerous thing. It's what makes the rich ruin the poor to put another ryo in their already-fat wallets. It's what makes a daimyo conquer his neighbor to expand the borders of his already-large nation. Konoha is consumed with greed, and those here that aren't either cannot change it or choose to just live with it."**

Naruto uncovered his eyes and looked down, but his fist was balled up and Kyuubi could practically smell the boy's anger. **"Don't be afraid to be angry kit. Anger is normal to feel when you discover you were betrayed or lied to. It doesn't make you a bad person to be angry, to want justice. It doesn't make you a demon, it makes you human."**

That was exactly what Naruto needed to hear. He stood up and looked at the fox, looking like he was trying not to direct his anger at Kyuubi himself. "I... I think I hate them. I've never hated anyone before, I never wanted to, but I... I don't think I can stop myself from hating them anymore."

The fox was surprised by what he saw, but ignored it for now. **"You shouldn't have to. They wanted you to never give in to your anger or even try to accept it as a natural feeling because if you did you could be dangerous to them and upset their plans. They wanted you to think being angry would only prove them right that you were a demon. They wanted you to be afraid to retaliate no matter what."**

"So what do I do about it?" Naruto desperately asked. "How am I going to change this? I can't do this all alone."

Kyuubi first took a deep breath. **"You can do two things. You can either give this greedy village what it wants, or you don't. Before you ask, I do know how you can get away with not giving Konoha the satisfaction of victory over you."**

"How?" Naruto curiously asked.

**"If you become a ninja or die, either way Konoha gets something it wants from you. The only way for you to defy them and get away with it is to do something I've been planning for you for the past few years, ever since I regained consciousness here. I tried to contact you sooner but apparently the seal will not allow us to communicate unless you come here to me. But now that we can talk, I think it would be wise for us to discuss this."**

Naruto looked up at the fox with hesitation, as if he still didn't know if accepting the fox's offer was the lesser of two evils. After a moment he sighed. "I might as well hear it out. What do you have in mind?"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Hinata was peacefully asleep, dreaming of having some nice quiet private time with her blonde love interest, when a tapping sound woke her up. Immediately panicked because her traumatic experience years ago, she woke up and was ready to shout out. The only thing that kept her from screaming was her byakugan reflexively activated and showed her it was Naruto at her window.

Is this a dream?

'Uhh... Na-Naruto-kun is here? At m-m-my r-room?' She asked herself. She could see he looked rather impatient and worried, like he was afraid of being caught. 'Makes sense. The compound is rather guarded and if he's caught he'll be at the mercy of people who laugh at the word.' She quickly got up, blushing at him seeing her in a nightgown even though it didn't show much, and opened the window. "Naruto-kun?"

"Hinata I don't have much time so listen carefully. I really need to speak to you about something and you're the only one who can know this. You can't tell _anyone_, especially your father. I need to see you tomorrow, at a place no one would find us. Can you meet me in Training Ground 27 in the morning as soon as you can get away from your family?"

Hinata nodded. "Of course Naruto-kun. But why? And what happened to your eyes?"

"I'll tell you tomorrow. You'll understand more then." Naruto told her than went up in smoke, revealing he had been a shadow clone.

'Naruto-kun looked afraid. What could scare him? And how am I involved?' Hinata asked herself before returning to her bed, never asking how Naruto could now use clones when just the other day he failed that part of the test.

* * *

The next morning Hinata left as soon as she could, which wasn't that hard considering her family didn't really want her around to begin with. The clan wasn't exactly a friendly lot, not even to their own, but Hinata felt like she was the one most singled out for some reason. Virtually everyone she could name and even a few she couldn't looked at her like seeing her was in some way offensive. She didn't understand why, and when she asked no one would answer. Except for Neji, who'd say it was her fate to be treated as such, and Hanabi, who said if Hiashi didn't love her why should she?

She just couldn't understand why her entire family was against her. A couple of relatives was understandable, but ALL of them? Clearly she was not wanted, but why? It couldn't just be because she had been kidnapped by Kumo's scout. She was three and he was a jounin, NO ONE that age could have properly fought back, and after ten years that had to have been brought up at least once. After all, she had never heard of anyone, Hyuuga or not, that could fight a jounin at three years old, so why would anyone expect _her_ to do it?

Whatever the reason, the clan apparently had no interest in explaining it to her so she could fix the problem. That bothered her the most. Everyone looked at her like she was at fault for something, but how could she improve the situation if she wasn't even aware of what was wrong? You don't tell a repairman to fix something without telling them what's wrong with it first. It was almost like they all expected her to just know why she was singled out as the object of their animosity.

Not wanting to think about it, Hinata just headed to where Naruto had asked her to meet him at. It wasn't hard to find, but it was an odd choice of meeting place. It wasn't one of Naruto's unusual places to go, and she made it a point to know all the places Naruto was likely to be at.

Training Ground 27 wasn't one of the popular ones in Konoha. It was a really dense forest, with the trees really close together, used to teach shinobi how to move, hide, and track in tight spots and places with restricted room to move. A good place to hide, if the person trying to find you didn't have a byakugan.

Hinata activated hers, finding Naruto in no time. It had been harder than usual, because this time he wasn't wearing his usual orange jumpsuit. Now he was wearing a simple set of black clothes. Hinata was immediately worried. 'Naruto-kun wouldn't be without orange without a reason. What shook him up so much?' He wasn't wearing Iruka's hitai-ate either, but she wasn't aware he had received it yet so she paid that fact no mind.

Without hesitation, she headed for him, jumping thru the branches for the quickest route. He was seated on a branch so this helped too. She came to a stop on the branch in front of him. "Naruto-kun?"

"Hinata, I'm glad you made it." He replied with a smile, though his eyes showed he was haunted.

Speaking of which, Hinata made sure to double-check his eyes. "Naruto-kun what's wrong? And do you look so miserable? And why are your eyes purple instead of blue?" She asked. One of the reasons why Hinata admired and loved Naruto's blue eyes was that they were always filled with hope and determination. But these eyes, they were different, but not just the coloring. It was as if something had nearly robbed him of his dreams.

"Hinata, I just found out something really horrible, and apparently it affects you too." He told her, bringing out the file. He then held it out for her. "I felt you at least deserved to see what this says. As for my eyes, you'll understand that better after you read this."

The Hyuuga heiress carefully took it from him, and read the title. "This was written by the Yondaime and Sandaime? Where did you get this?"

"In the hokage's office. I had reason to believe the old man was hiding something from me and I got too curious for my own good. Read the beginning, then I can show you the part that applies to you so you can understand it better."

With a single nod, Hinata started to read the document. Thankfully she was a speed-reader so she read through it in a fraction of the time it took Naruto too. Once she got into it, her eyes almost popped out of her skull and she didn't even need to let Naruto show her what she needed to see the most, which was a note written specifically about her by the Sandaime.

_We have successfuly created a good sense of hostility towards Naruto over Konoha. The heads of the Uchiha and Yamanaka clans have ensured that the non-clan ninja and civilians feel no desire to help him more than we allow. Surprisingly we did not have to put in much effort. As soon as they heard he contained Kyuubi, the majority wanted nothing to do with him, without any more prompting from us. Of course we did have to affect some to make them be aggressive. I wish we could have done this to the children his age too to further ostracize him, but such mind-affecting jutsu would destroy their developing minds and impede their futures. Fortunately I do not have to, as the parents already instruct their children to avoid him and not befriend him. Some seem to genuinely hate him, while most are just apathetic to him._

_However, on that regard there is sadly an exception to the rule. Hyuuga Hiashi's oldest daughter is proving difficult, much like his wife was before we had to put her down before she did too much for Naruto. Most other children are too lazy or obedient to go against their parent's instructions, and thus they ignore Naruto without a second thought. She however actually feels bad for his suffering and tries little things to cheer him up and encourage him to succeed in his naive dream. This cannot be allowed, the boy cannot receive genuine affection or he will learn to see through the behavior of others. Luckily Hiashi declared her expendable like he did his wife years ago so we had permission to risk brain damage and try a genjutsu on her to turn her against him. Unfortunately, it did not work, even after multiple applications. I do not understand why. Unable to force her to drop this in such a manner, Hiashi took it upon himself to destroy the girl's self-esteem until she is too afraid to hold a conversation with him, let alone actually help him. So far it is working, but I fear it will not last long. Maybe I should place her on a genin team with a genjutsu specialist instructor to see if it can at all be possible to find a genjutsu that works on her._

Hinata was aghast. "This... this is abominable! What kind of human being would want such a thing? Your father turned an entire village against you? They all went with it with no objections? Your mother was killed by people she cared about? My mother was murdered? My clan was willing to risk me becoming a vegetable all because they didn't want me to like you? Why? For the love of Kami-sama why?" Tears streamed down her face as she asked this.

Naruto was silent for a brief moment but nodded knowing how much it hurts seeing he too was affected. "Hinata, you didn't say anything about Kyuubi being in me. Why? Doesn't that freak you out too?"

"It surprised me, but after seeing all this that's the least of my concerns. I know you're you Naruto-kun, not a fox, so I'm not worried about that. What I am worried about is what people will do to us. I won't let them try to destroy my feelings for you. I won't!" Hinata answered, much more adamantly than she had ever been in her life. More tears were forming in the corner of her eyes.

Naruto was quite surprised. "You're... most worried about them turning you against me than anything else?" He could tell from the Sandaime's entries and his talk with Kyuubi that Hinata liked him, enough to likely side with him on his plan, but actually seeing it shocked him.

Hinata nodded. "Naruto-kun, you're the only thing keeping me from wanting to commit suicide."

"Suicide? Why would you even think that Hinata?" gasped Naruto.

The white-eyed girl looked away for a moment, but returned her gaze to him, looking like she was already uncontrollably sobbing. "Naruto-kun, you have suffered something I couldn't imagine even in my nightmares, but you're not the only one who's unloved by their family."

Naruto surprised her by coming to her branch to sit next to her. She got nervous but made no effort to put distance between them. "I heard from the file that you weren't exactly favored, but... do they really hate you enough that you'd want to kill yourself over it? And why am I the only thing stopping you?"

"Well, it's kind of hard to say they like me when it's written down right here they were willing, and still are, to destroy my ability to think, right Naruto-kun?" She pointed out, using an example she knew would speak to him right then.

Naruto nodded, and could tell from the look in her eyes there was more on the subject. "What happened to you? You can tell me all of it you know."

"I... I don't know why, but they all just plain and simple hate me. Maybe _this_ is why, because they can't force me to think like them, because I like you and they don't want anyone to like you, especially someone from their clan. Anyway, they... their idea of training me is beating me until I bruise, and they don't even use the juuken to do it half the time. There's a big difference between the actual juuken and simply pummeling someone like a thug. They even make me fight my sister a lot, knowing full well I hate hurting her but she relishes in hurting me. And if that's not enough, they keep telling me to be stronger yet they always threaten me with a seal they know will cripple me further. Overall, it's a pretty clear message: my life has no significance to any of them. If I died tomorrow, they'd _smile_ instead of grieve."

Naruto was surprised to hear this. 'No wonder she's so quiet and keeps to herself in class. I probably would too if I was in her situation, having a family but being hated by them.' He reached out and put his arm around her shoulders to comfort her, and she leaned into his embrace, putting her face into his collar. She was trembling, and Naruto guessed it was a mixture of grief and rage.

"Hinata?" He asked after a moment, getting her to give him eye contact again. He saw she was lightly crying now after telling him all she knows and feels of her life. "You said the only reason you haven't killed yourself is because of me. What exactly did I do?"

She looked at him with an expression he didn't recognize, but was certain wasn't negative. "I've seen you suffer before Naruto-kun. I've tried helping you when you passed out or went to the hospital. So many times I thought if I was in your place I'd pray for death, and yet you're strong enough to keep striving and work towards a better future, for both you and others. I knew that if you could survive your life, I could survive mine. But I don't want to just survive, I want my life to have purpose, and..." She paused for a moment, uncertain about what she wanted to say next but she knew he needed to hear it. "And I want you in my life."

Naruto looked away. "Hinata, after all this, I don't think I'm strong enough to keep going. At least... not the way I had been. I refuse to give this village what it wants from me, but I'm not going to give them the satisfaction of killing me and starting over."

"So what will you do?" Hinata asked, slightly fearful of his answer.

"I'm getting the hell out of here. Kyuubi told me about a place I can go where they can't find me. Not won't find me, _can't_ find me. I'm only telling you this because you're the only person I know who can be trusted. Also, Kyuubi wants to know if you would rather accept his invitation to go with us, or stay he-"

"I'll go." Hinata said with a lot of conviction.

"Just like that?"

She nodded. "What do I have here that's worth holding onto now that I know all of this? Why should I live in a village where the leaders think like this?"

Naruto smiled. "Thanks Hinata. Truth be told, I was hoping you'd say that. I'd hate to leave and have no company, or leave you behind to suffer more."

"Should we tell anyone else?"

Naruto shook his head. "Even with proof, who would take us seriously? The village will spin some lie against us and everyone will side against us because of reputation alone. No one must know, but we'll keep this on us so we can use it against Konoha later."

Hinata thought it over, and nodded. She too could not think of anyone who would believe what she said or wouldn't seek an authority figure later to confirm or deny the validity of their files, and such an action would invoke the wrath of Konoha's complete governing body. "How soon should we leave?"

"Do you have anything that you don't want to leave behind?" Naruto asked.

"Just one thing, something my mother left for me."

"Go ahead and get it, and anything else you need. Meet me above the hokage monument when you're ready." Naruto told her. Hinata nodded and surprised him and herself by quickly kissing his cheek before running off.

Naruto just sat there on his ass rubbing the cheek that Hinata planted a kiss on. Still wondering where that came from, he just stared into nothing and thought more of that kiss... a beginning.

* * *

Hinata returned to her clan's compound, wondering if she would ever see it again. 'The real sad thing is that thought doesn't hurt me. This never was my home, just where I was forced to sleep each night. A prison, that's what it is. A prison.' She mentally sighed. 'I guess deep down there's only one thing I'll miss here, and that's Hanabi. Sure, she never really liked me in return, but at least now I know she won't have to take on that damn seal. Then again, now I seriously wonder if she was ever at risk for it in the first place.'

Unnoticed by anyone Hinata walked back inside. The sad thing is she wasn't using stealth to do so. The guards paid no mind to her unexplained return and everyone else was busy elsewhere doing their own thing. But before she reached her room, she did run into someone, Hanabi.

"What are you doing here?" The younger girl asked, as if the older one was somehow trespassing.

"I live here. What more reason do I need?" Hinata replied.

Hanabi scoffed like she was insulted and walked away. Hinata sighed sadly. 'The clan turned against me and they turned her against me too. I may miss her, but no part of me believes that she will miss me.' Pushing that negative thought aside, she went into her room and went through her personal belongings. Not wanting to risk being seen leaving with a pack full of supplies, she instead took all her spare money and a single memento from her dead mother, a lavender stone silver necklace.

"Hinata." Hiashi's voice was heard from her door, making her freeze up before looking towards him. "I thought you went out. Why are you back so soon?"

'Couldn't he at least pretend he's not bothered by my being here?' Hinata asked herself, already knowing it was a moot question. "I... I th-thought about w-wearing Okaa-san's necklace for luck when I g-got assigned my genin team and I w-wanted to make sure it still was where I k-keep it."

For once Hinata was grateful for her stutter. Thanks to her nervous habit it was hard to tell when she was lying unless they were actually trying to find dishonesty in her body language.

Lucky for her Hiashi wasn't. "Very well, though I think it was a foolish choice on your part. If that necklace was lucky your mother wouldn't be dead now would she?"

Hinata was deeply offended to hear her father talk about her mother's death in such a lethargic tone, especially since she now knew he was involved in it. "W-w-well ma-maybe that was so unlucky there's n-nothing left in the necklace but good luck."

"Whatever. Just don't disappoint me when you are assigned." He said before he walked away.

'Don't disappoint him? How on earth can I disappoint him? It's not like I can choose who I'm assigned with. Not that it will matter one bit once Naruto-kun and I are out of his hellhole and away from people like you.' Hinata thought, allowing herself a brief moment of hostility before she stashed the necklace on herself and hurried back outside.

* * *

It didn't take long for her to meet up with Naruto again on top the Hokage Monument. "Did you get it?" He asked.

She nodded, and quickly hugged him to regain a sense of comfort and belonging. "Yes. Let's get out of here before anyone stops us. Where will we go?"

"Kyuubi's got an idea, and to be honest it's the best option we have now." He said as he separated from her and they both started running away from the village, going the direction where the defense and look-outs were weakest.

"Where will we go?" Hinata asked again. "Sooner or later we will be noticed missing and anbu will be sent out to bring us back. Since we can't outrun them, where could we go that they wouldn't find us?"

"Kyuubi has a plan, and it's better than anything else I can come up it so what do we have to lose?" Naruto said.

"What is it?"

-Flashback-

**"Kit, if you want to avoid giving Konoha what it wants, the only thing you can do is leave it."** Kyuubi told Naruto.

"Leave it?" Naruto asked.

Kyuubi nodded. **"Yes. If you stay you _will_ be extorted, taken advantage of and used until you've got nothing left to give. They will take and take and take until you can't even give them dust. And now that you have a doujutsu awakened, they will feel even more validated in doing so."**

Naruto touched the skin under his eyes. "What is my doujutsu?"

**"It's something I haven't seen in a long time. The eyes of the only man I ever considered my superior, the Sage of Six Paths. Your clan must somehow be descended from him. Anyway, these eyes are called the rinnegan, and your anguish over this must have awakened them."**

"What can they do?"

**"A lot to say the least. But since _you_ have them, no one in Konoha will want you to ever use it. They will basically force you to have kids in hopes they get the eyes, but they themselves would never allow you to have something they can't control. ****Your only chance at a life of your own is to escape. But this won't be like pulling a prank. Even you can't escape the Anbu long enough for it to be worth it. While your skills at escape and stealth are commendable for someone who's self-taught in them, they are not enough to be dependent on. However, I do know a place you can get to where they cannot follow."**

"Where?"

**"The summons realm."**

"What's that?"

**"It's where we bijuu spent our time before we all were forced into our human prisons. We didn't spend _all_ our time destroying human homes after all. If we did your race never would have had a chance to progress as they have. We relaxed in our own home with some creatures like us. In fact, it was through us that humans learned how to summon in the first place."**

"Oh yeah. The old man has a monkey summons. He showed me once. So you know where they come from?"

**"Yes. Now, since I'm sealed in here I'm incapable of returning there. However, if you become a summoner I can send you there instead."**

"Nice. How do I become a summoner?" Naruto asked.

Kyuubi pushed out a large scroll from inside the cage. **"I've been working on this for some time now, waiting for this. It's the new fox summon contract. I had to create a new one to void the old one that had a rather nasty person on it. Once you sign your name on it, you become a fox summoner, in fact the only fox summoner until someone else is included, and then you can be taken to the fox region of the summons realm. There I can assure you that you will be protected and trained properly."**

"Sounds good. Right now anywhere is better than here."

**"Just to let you know, if the pale-eyed vixen sides with you, I recommend pulling this contract into the outside world and letting her sign so she can escape with you. Otherwise she won't be able to come with us."** Kyuubi added.

"I'll let her decide that part." Naruto said before he opened up the scroll. In it he saw a bunch of writing right away written exactly like a real contract, telling him the terms and conditions of being a summoner. The gist of it was that foxes would agree to assist Naruto in matters they could or at least found worthy to assist in, and Naruto would never disrespect them or use them as servants and cannon fodder. Satisfied after seeing no downsides, Naruto signed his name in blood on the first blank space, but he signed it as Naruto Uzumaki.

**"Why not use the name your mother gave you?"** Kyuubi asked.

"I would, but since 'Naruto' is what I'm used to, I thought signing as anything else would void it." The blonde answered.

**"Acceptable. Now, when the time comes I will help you get out of here. Before that, go check on that vixen."** Kyuubi told him before Naruto left the mindscape.

-End Flashback-

They came to a brief stop, and Naruto molded his chakra, adding a small amount of Kyuubi's into it, and the fox scroll materialized into reality. "Kyuubi said you can come, but you have to sign this first."

Hinata took it from him and wasted no time in signing it, her name and hand print next to his. "We're in this together Naruto-kun. We're the only ones we can depend on anymore."

Naruto felt greatly comforted in hearing that, in knowing Hinata had no ill will towards him. For a little while a small part of him had worried otherwise, that she was no different than the rest and she just hadn't been pushed that direction yet. Now that part was silenced. If Hinata _was_ somehow against him, she was putting herself too much at risk for any plan to be worth it. Logically, she really and truly was on his side.

"Thank you Hinata. Now, Kyuubi will be ready to take-" Naruto started, but before he could finish they both were covered in smoke, along with their scroll.

"-us there?" He finished when the smoke cleared. "Where are we?"

**"The fox region of the summons realm."** Kyuubi told him.

"You can speak to me without me being right there by the cage?" Naruto asked.

**"Here I can. My power is strongest here. I can also speak through you with your permission, which will come in handy until I'm released from this seal without harming you. But we'll have to find other foxes to help us on that part."**

"Something wrong Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked.

He shook his head. "Nope, just surprised the fox can speak to me directly now."

"Oh, okay. Does he know just where we are?" Hinata asked. The scenery was mostly a clear meadow with nothing in sight except a lot of scattered trees and rocks. In the distance to the west was what looked like a human village, and they were currently standing on a dirt road leading to it.

Naruto was silent for a few minutes, listening to the Kyuubi explain. "He says we're in Shobikou, the fox territory of the summons realm. It's mostly forest and valley, and gets a lot of snow during the winter. He placed us close to where he used to live but not so close we would shock any foxes and make them attack us. He says if we go up to some and show them the scroll they should at least hear us out before doing anything."

Hinata nodded. "Let's look then."

* * *

When they got to their destination, both were surprised to see it almost was exactly like a human settlement. In fact, at first glance they thought they saw actual people and wondered if they were taken somewhere else. That worry died as soon as they noticed that all the people sported fox ears and tails of various numbers and colors. Also a large number of foxes of various colors and tail numbers walked around without trouble.

"What is this?" Naruto asked.

**"It's a kitsune village."** Kyuubi answered. **"Remember from legend how kitsune often like to impersonate humans and live among them to avoid being hunted? Well, we've adopted a bit of your lifestyle and made it our own too. Sometimes we even walk around in human form for practice and when having hands and height is needed. All I can say is Inari-sama really likes us."**

"Oh, that makes sense." Naruto said then repeated to Hinata who agreed.

The two walked in, and for a while no one noticed, at least not negatively. They received a few friendly waves and hellos from the residents, both human form and fox form, but no one was eyeing them suspiciously.

It didn't last long, for a group of foxes in fox form approached them. "Why are you here, humans? Do not lie, we can smell your true species."

Naruto was a bit nervous but he answered first. "We are fox summoners who were brought here by the Kyuubi."

"Fox summoners? There hasn't been one of those in decades." A fox commented.

"You claim to be connected to Kyuubi-sama. Can you prove this?" The fox that appeared to be in charge of the group asked.

"How can I?" Naruto asked. "Unfortunately a bastard sealed him inside me when I was born and it was only yesterday I even found out about it. I'd let him out but I don't know how. The only real proof I have is the contract right here." He then held out the scroll, patting it for emphasis.

The foxes looked at each other, wondering what to do. "Why should we believe this?"

Naruto then pulled out a folder. "Can anyone here read?"

* * *

After giving the file to the foxes, Naruto and Hinata were sequestered in an ordinary building while the fox contract was also being examined. The examiner saw nothing in it to make him believe it was false or invalid, and thus confirmed for the others these two were in fact fox summoners who had to have had a meeting with Kyuubi at some point since only boss summons can write out official summon scrolls. The only question was what to do about them being here.

To answer that question, the next day Naruto and Hinata were brought to a group of foxes that were referred to as the Alpha Pack. The group was apparently the foxes that had been ruling Shobikou in Kyuubi's absense, consisting of a group of seven foxes. At the moment only two were available, both of them were in human form wearing old fashioned kimonos and seated on pillowy cushions. And of course they all had fox ears and tails.

"Please sit down young ones. No need to feel uncomfortable here." A regal-looking woman with long blonde hair that framed her face like Hinata's did but was braided in the back, green eyes, a golden collar around her neck, and a grey kimono displaying white flower petals, said to them. "My name is Nasake. We are part of a group that have been ruling Shobikou in Kyuubi-sama's absence, waiting for his return. The others are busy attending to business elsewhere in Shobikou so my mate and I will handle this for now."

Naruto got nervous seeing them stare at him, feeling like they were scrutinizing him. 'Are they mad at me and my mother's family for holding him captive? Do they plan on killing me to get him out?'

Sensing his fear, Nasake continued. "Be at ease kit. We intend you no harm. From what you've brought to us, we feel we must at least hear you out before we decide your fate. Is there anything you wish to tell us?"

"Well... is there anything about what you read that you didn't understand and want me to clarify?" Naruto asked, this being the safest response he could think of.

"The name references were completely unfamiliar, but we got the gist of it." The other replied. He looked a bit young but still many years older than either of them, sporting short spiky black hair, black eyes, a cobalt collar around his neck, and a white kimono with black stars decorating it. "My name's Shiawase, and I take it you are Uzumaki Naruto, correct?"

The blonde nodded. "Yes, and this is the only friend I have in the world, Hyuuga Hinata."

The girl blushed deeply but bowed. "Hello, nice to meet you both."

"We understand from the record you brought with you that Kyuubi-sama was sealed away inside you Naruto years ago by a man with certain unsavory ambitions, and before that he had been sealed away in two others named Uzumaki as well." Nasake stated. "One thing we did not find was why this happened in the first place. Can you explain?"

Naruto shook his head. "Sorry I can't. I didn't even know he was inside me until yesterday. I didn't even know it was possible to seal demons inside people like that. I think Kyuubi himself might know, but you'd have to ask him directly since I might repeat the answer wrong."

Shiawase put his hand to his chin. "I don't know of a way to remove him from you, but it is a matter we will look into. But until then, let's discuss something we can do something about. Namely, what you expect from us."

"Good sir, we expect nothing from you." Hinata politely told him. "We do have requests, but we do not believe we are in any position to expect or demand anything of you, regardless of our connection to your kind."

"Nice to see someone humble, unlike the last fox summoner." Nasake commented. "Go ahead and state your requests."

"Our only real request is for asylum here, to remain here and not be sent back where we came from. If you recall the file, you should already know why. We're not really sure what we can offer you in return, but we will listen to any requests you have of us." Hinata answered diplomatically.

Naruto turned to her, shocked she is doing such a good job at making a good impression. He on the other hand wasn't but seeing she was raised to be heiress she knew what to do and say.

The two kitsunes in human form shared a look, as if silently communicating. After a moment they looked back to the two young teens. "We have decided that for several reasons we will grant your request and give you asylum here in Shobikou. However, you must understand a few things about this." Shiawase told them, making them relieved and concerned at the same time.

"Humans who can summon are allowed to visit and train in the homes of their summoning partners, however, they cannot live there. Not on a full-time basis. You never see summons living full-time in your world either." Nasake told them.

"We wouldn't really know." Naruto told them and Hinata nodded.

"Now, because Naruto has Kyuubi-sama contained inside him, that might be overlooked. But that wouldn't really apply to Hinata here and it would only work until Kyuubi-sama was released. Therefore, you only have two options if the two of you don't wish to be separated."

Naruto and Hinata didn't even have to look at each other to decide what they wanted. "We're in this together. We knew that when we got into this."

Nasake and Shiawase grinned. "Well then, here are your choices. You can either go back to the human world but be allowed to return yourselves here through a self-done version of reverse summoning in times of crisis or need, or you take the training to become fox sages."

"What's the training?" Naruto asked, thinking that one had more appeal than the other option.

"Training only fox summoners are privileged to, which allows them to be more connected to nature and do things no other ninja could achieve or copy." Nasake told them. "All summons can offer this, but not all summoners are given the offer. They must first earn the right."

"What do we have to do to earn the right?" Hinata asked.

"Trust has to be established first between summoner and summons. Enough trust that the summons feel comfortable even having the human come to their lands." Shiawase explained. "Normally this takes years to establish, but if Kyuubi-sama is vouching for you both by bringing you here, knowing that this training is the only way to let you stay, that should be enough to give you the right."

"What is the training like?" Naruto asked.

The two kitsunes stood up. "Come with us, it will probably make more sense to see it."

* * *

Within an hour Naruto and Hinata had reached an enclosed giant forest. Surrounding it were many pillars of stone ringed around it, acting more as boundary markers than any sort of actual barrier. The forest itself looked no different than any of the ones they saw around Konoha.

"This is Kuo, where those chosen to receive fox sage training go to do so." Shiawase told them. "Once you go inside, you are free to stay for as long as you wish. However, and I cannot stress this enough, if you do enter, you can never exit unless the training is complete. If you try, you will be forever turned into a fox."

"Has anyone ever succeeded?" Naruto asked.

"Two people did. Their names were Uchiha Madara, the only person who ever gained the ability to summon Kyuubi-sama himself, and Uzumaki Mito, the only one who was ever able to defeat Kyuubi-sama by herself."

"Wow." Naruto said at hearing his ancestor's achievement.

**"Not something I'm proud of, but I'll give her due credit for it."** Kyuubi commented, remembering a time other than the creation of the Valley of the End.

"How will we learn? And do we need anything before we go in there?" Hinata asked.

"Food and water will be provided within, as will shelter. Clothes will have to be brought in from outside but fortunately we kitsune can go in and out whenever we want. We just choose not to as a sign of respect to Kyuubi-sama since he's the one who created the fox sage arts here."

"Really?" Naruto and Hinata asked.

**"Humans aren't the only ones who use chakra you know. We develop methods too."** Kyuubi told his host.

"As long as you think of it as a long camping trip, you'll do fine." Nasake told them. "Inside there, we believe there may be a way for Kyuubi-sama to teach you what to do. If not, we'll check up on you and send for a proper sensei to help you out. But don't try anything without supervision." Naruto for some odd reason felt a stare coming from Kyuubi even though he really couldn't see it.

The two young teens nodded, knowing Kyuubi would be there to guide them. Hinata didn't like the idea of living off the land 24/7, but part of her ninja training was for such situations so she wouldn't be going in blindly. And having Naruto around as company and help would make up for general human luxuries.

Sensing his host's uncertainty, Kyuubi spoke up once more. **"You'll be fine kit. You've got nothing to worry about, for you or her."**

Naruto lightly smiled and took Hinata's hand in his own. Showing he will be there for her "Let's do it. Together." Hinata smiled and nodded, tightening her hold on his hand too. As the two look into the area only one thing came to their minds, 'When we finish here, Konoha and everyone in it will learn what they did wrong.'

* * *

"Hokage-sama, we've got a problem." Hiashi said as he burst into Sarutobi's office uninvited.

'Usually when he says 'we' he really means 'I'.' The old man mentally groaned. "What is it Hiashi? I am very busy you know."

"My daughter has gone missing. Vanished into thin air. She was last seen yesterday but not one of my clansmen has been able to spot her since." The Hyuuga head told him.

Now Sarutobi was a bit concerned. While the byakugan was not incapable of being fooled no matter what the Hyuuga believed, the general concession on it was that if the Hyuuga couldn't find something then it simply wasn't there to be found. "Which daughter, and what are the details of her last sighting?"

"Hinata, the one who for some reason likes the brat and can't be broken of it." Hiashi said with a shameless sneer, disgusted at having to admit he had a connection to someone he would consider 'embarrassing' to actually be a compliment towards.

Hiashi's relationship with his oldest had always been a strained one. His wife Hitomi had always been against Minato's plan to warp Naruto the way he had been, and truthfully she wasn't alone in her opinion. But before she and any like her could do anything about it, anymore than they already managed to succeed in that is, Hiashi and Sarutobi had her killed in her sleep as a message to the others. Death by birthing complications was just a cover.

Unfortunately, her personality had rubbed off on Hinata, as had her belief that Naruto deserved to be treated like a human being. Hiashi had hoped for his daughter's sake she learn to go along with the crowd like every other girl her age did and despise Naruto as well, but she never did. After a while, there came an order to kill her too before she got too close to him, but Hiashi pleaded for an alternative.

"I don't like it either, but my brother sacrificed his life to keep her in Konoha and out of Kumo. To kill her now would make his sacrifice worthless. My wife was one thing, but this is another." He told them when they presented the subject.

As a compromise, they settled for altering her beliefs until she agreed with them. But no Yamanaka or genjutsu user could affect her, for reasons they could not understand. Still refusing to kill her, Hiashi settled for intimidation and tough love, all the while hoping she'd grow out of it. But after years of it not working and only making her a disappointment to him even further, he flat out gave up on her. The only reason he didn't kill her now was because he felt doing so would be admitting he made a mistake in not doing so sooner.

"I last saw her yesterday afternoon when she was looking for some good luck charm, and no one has seen her since. Though to be honest, it wasn't until supper last night we even realized she was absent. We spent all night searching Konoha inside and out to find her and discipline her for this, but to this moment we can still find no trace of her." The Hyuuga head told the Sandaime Hokage.

"That's not good." Sarutobi commented.

"It gets worse Hokage-sama." Hiashi continued, somewhat worried about having to bring this part of the news up. "First, when we looked inside her room for any clues, we found her hitai-ate in her trashcan."

"Her trashcan?" Sarutobi repeated, well aware of the meaning. Hinata for all basic purposes quit her job and insulted Konoha. The only thing missing was a slash across the plate.

"I wish that was all, but it isn't. Considering her misplaced interests in the demon child, we checked to see if she had actually gotten the nerve to interact with him. Unfortunately, we couldn't find him either."

"What?" Sarutobi asked, jumping from his chair and planting his palms on his desk. "He's got to be here somewhere! The boy's too stupid and naive to even consider disappearing, especially now that he's finally considered a ninja! He must be hiding somewhere. I don't know how or why, but he has to be. And we must consider the possibility your daughter is helping him."

"What will we do when we find them?" Hiashi pressed.

"Naruto unfortunately is too valuable to lose just yet unless he proves himself uncontrollable. As for your daughter, I'll leave her treatment to you. But that won't matter until we actually find them." He then took a deep breath. "Has anyone checked Naruto's apartment yet?"

"No one's been inside, but our byakugan has shown he hasn't been inside it recently."

"Did you notice anything unusual?"

Hiashi slumped his shoulders. "I did not personally look, and my retainers only mentioned that he himself was not inside, nothing further."

Sarutobi stretched his arms. "I better go see this for myself."

The Sandaime Hokage left his office with the Hyuuga head following him. In no time he made it to the rundown apartment that was part of a building that should have been condemned and demolished, yet stood since Naruto had to live _somewhere_ and the kennel certainly wouldn't take him.

Having the key to his well-locked place, something he occasionally gave to the anbu to install fear in the boy growing up, he opened the door and disabled any additional traps he helped Narto set up, all to give the boy a fake sense of security he could easily exploit when it served or amused him.

"Naruto?" Sarutobi called out as a token formality, testing for any reaction. He got none.

A quick survey of the apartment showed nothing suspicious, except for two things. The ramen was still in the cupboards, and his own hitai-ate was in the trashcan just like Hinata's.

'Strange, Naruto and Hiashi's daughter barely have any interaction at all. How could they plan something together? It's too much of a coincidence that they would reject being a ninja and disappear separately at the same time. And I made sure Naruto couldn't ever think of betraying Konoha. Yet the evidence shows they had to be doing something together, and it looks like they've decided they're not going to be genin while doing it.'

"Any thoughts Hokage-sama?" Hiashi asked.

"I'm guessing your daughter has tried running from your clan. Why, I don't know, but she did somehow at some time get in touch with Naruto and convince him to get her out of harm's way. Again, I don't know why, but he accepted and they've both decided to forsake Konoha in the process."

"That sounds very unlikely Hokage-sama." Hiashi stated.

"The only alternatives are Naruto approached your daughter instead with plans to desert Konoha, or someone outside Konoha took them both and Naruto put up no struggle." Sarutobi countered calmly. "Both ideas are absurd. We've made sure to mold Naruto's entire thought process in the way Minato told us too. He'd rather be castrated then give up his dream of becoming Hokage."

"And yet my daughter who's barely ever talked to him convinced him to give that up to help her?" Hiashi asked.

"It's absurd too, but all we have to go on are absurd possibilities and this is the most likely one of them all. In any case, we'll never know until we find them." Sarutobi replied. "Gather your best trackers and send them out. I'll do the same with the best of the anbu. These kids couldn't have gotten beyond our range yet. We _will_ have them back and their spirits broken." He added with close to a snarl.

Looking back in the apartment he noticed something odd on the kitchen table. Wondering what it is, both men walked into the kitchen and noticed something that made them run for their lives.

As they managed to make their escape they looked inside to see a paint bomb just now explode. "I think his pranks are getting to us" said Hiashi. Sarutobi nodded, agreeing with the clan head. As he closed, or rather slammed the door, a huge explosion went off inside his apartment, blowing both men off their feet and hitting the ground hard. To make it worse, Naruto's apartment wasn't on the ground floor.

Sarutobi turned to Hiashi who landed face first. "I think he knew we'd be here." The old man groaned.

Hiashi just moaned in pain, his pride hurt as much as his body. And considering that he landed atop a stray rock in the street that just happened to be placed in exactly the wrong spot, his shame hurt quite a bit too.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Inside Kuo Naruto and Hinata were directed to a small house that looked like a common Shinto shrine made of wood. It was surrounded by forest behind in, creating a sort of half-ring on the back side with the left side having more open room than the right. In front of them was an open space covered in grass like a lawn, something few had in Konoha, and in the front were two fox guardian statues.

"This is where you'll reside." Shiawase instructed. "There's a hot water spring on the other side of those trees and the river we passed not too long ago will provide you drinkable water and a source of fish for food. You'll have to forage and hunt for meat and edible plants here, and there's room for a garden if you want us to bring you some seeds."

"You make it sound like we're going to be here for a while." Naruto told him.

Shiawase nodded. "The shortest amount of time anyone spent here and still become a fox sage was a year, accomplished by Uzumaki Mito. And Uchiha Madara required two years to finish. You might as well get comfortable in your stay."

"I don't see a training ground or dojo." Hinata noted.

"Kuo itself _is_ your training ground." The kitsune told her.

"So how will we train?" Naruto asked.

"Worry about that tomorrow. Use today to get settled in and maybe get somewhat familiar with your surroundings. I'll return to provide you some food for later, but you'll have to learn how to survive here without support from the outside after that." Shiawase told them before turning around. "Best of luck." He then disappeared.

The two teens quickly decided to look inside their new home. The thought of it being _their_ home made Hinata blush, but she kept it down. Overall, it looked normal inside albeit less luxurious than either of them even Naruto was expecting. There was one main room in the center with a hearth pit in the center and two shoji doors, one on either side of the room. The room to the right revealed it was filled with supplies such as cooking wear, buckets, blankets, a broom, and several miscellaneous things, overall making it a walk-in closet/storage shed. The room to the left had nothing but a futon rolled out, a low table, and a privacy screen.

'Strange, there's no kitchen, no laundry room, just hermit stuff. Well I guess we are hermits now so it will have to do. Besides, I already spent some time without a home, I can survive a place like this. At least I don't see any cockroaches.' Naruto felt a bit relaxed while Hinata focused more on the futon. "Something wrong Hinata-chan?"

"Umm... th-there is o-only o-one be-bed."

"Then I guess we'll have to share." Naruto said mostly to test her reaction. She fainted. "She actually lasted longer than I thought she would." Naruto commented as he moved her onto the futon.

Kyuubi chuckled. **'I wonder if this is the official start of their relationship or if they even realize it.'**

* * *

Back in Konoha, Sarutobi Hiruzen was assembling the shinobi clan heads and from the Anbu Hatake Kakashi. "Everyone, we have a crisis on our hands. Uzumaki Naruto and Hyuuga Hinata have gone missing, presumably together, and have not been seen within Konoha for close to twenty-four hours."

All the attending ninja, sans Hiashi, stiffened at this news. The part about Hinata was minor compared to the part where Naruto was gone without explanation. Everyone knew the boy dreamed of becoming hokage someday, a dream that would never happen as long as they all breathed, and he knew he couldn't accomplish that dream that unless he stayed in Konoha.

"Why would he do something so stupid?" Inuzuka Tsume asked.

"We have no idea. It's possible that Touji Mizuki performed his role in testing and hurting the boy too well and he couldn't handle the revelation. Whatever the reason, I need all your best trackers to go outside Konoha's walls and find any clue to where he headed off. Bring him back alive at all costs. In regards to Hiashi's daughter, her being alive will not be a requirement though." Sarutobi told them all.

"You think Mizuki's words could have affected him that much?" Hiashi asked, uncertain about that. "Hokage-sama, my daughter is missing too. Yes it _can_ be a coincidence, but I suspect if something was truly bothering him he would go to you instead of my daughter."

Everyone in the room agreed with what Hiashi said. Sarutobi has the most trust from Naruto, more than even the Ichiraku's. But if it was compromised and he felt betrayed by the old man from what he learned, then there was no telling how he'd react. "We need to find him first and find out what happened." stated Sarutobi.

"What do we do in the event he uses Kyuubi's chakra?" Aburame Shibi asked.

"Subdue to the best of your ability, and if possible avoid any permanent damage. If there's a chance we can still use him we'll take it. Even so, we can't risk him dying without Yondaime-sama here to reseal the fox."

"Should we contact him if we cannot find Naruto?" Yamanaka Inoichi asked.

"I would prefer not to, but if the situation calls for it we may have no choice. Now enough talk, go find him." The hokage ordered, and the ninja finally left. 'There's no telling what Minato might do if he hears of this. I can only hope we find that sneaky brat first and teach him a couple of lessons. Not to mention not having him and another of our genin will really complicate the team arrangements to come. But we can't worry about that yet, this comes first.'

* * *

Naruto and Hinata got comfortable in their new home that night, and as a sign of courtesy Naruto did not make her share the futon and she was too shy to suggest they do.

The next day, Kyuubi was ready to start them on sage training.

**"I can teach you everything you need to know, but it would be much easier if I could speak to both of you."** Kyuubi told Naruto. **"Fortunately, here in Kuo I left a way for me to get out of being sealed if someone ever learned how to do that to me. I heard about plans to trap all us bijuu and I worked on how to get released if someone would just listen to my side for once."**

"Do you think it will work?" Naruto asked as he and Hinata went outside.

"Will what work?" Hinata asked. "Or are you talking to Kyuubi again?"

He nodded as he listened to the fox reply. **"It couldn't hurt to try now could it?"**

Naruto shrugged and told Hinata what he had been told, and she agreed it was as good as anything else to try here. Thus that morning they headed to the center of Kuo, where there was another structure, one that looked more like a shrine then their new house did. It was smaller and had torii gates on all four sides.

Naruto was instructed to go inside and so he did. Once inside several seals written up and down the walls glowed red and so did Naruto's stomach. Both teens were worried, but before either could do anything a ghostly fox face appeared on the walls.

"Ky-Kyuubi?" Hinata asked.

The facial apparition seemed to nod. **"Yes. Apparently the seals in this chamber have weakened over the years, and I can only astral-project myself in the material world." **As he spoke a body slowly formed and separated from the wall but remained ethereal. **"We'll need someone skilled in seals to repair the worn seals so we can make the two of us separate, but that will take time."**

"But at least this way I don't have to repeat everything you say to-" Naruto started, but stopped when a second shape started to form on the wall. And judging from Kyuubi's expression, even he didn't know what was going on.

The chakra apparition first took on an unclear yet humanoid shape, looking almost exactly like a ghost. But as quickly as Kyuubi had formed, its shape took on more definition too. And when it was recognizable, both Naruto and Kyuubi were stunned to see it.

**"Kushina?"** Kyuubi asked.

"Mom?" Naruto asked too, recognizing her from Kyuubi's memory.

The woman smiled. "Kuramamaru?" Hinata looked confused at the name reference.

Naruto smiled and tried to hug her, but he just went through her like she wasn't even there. "I'm sorry son, but like Kurama I'm not actually here, but my spirit given an image in the world outside your seal. You can see me and hear me, but we can't touch."

Naruto cried. "Can we change that?"

"I wish we could, but I don't see how." Kushina answered sadly. "I understand you're confused on how I'm here now. Did Kurama tell you what happened the day you were born?" She suspected that in her absence someone lied to him about his origins, but she hoped that since Kyuubi was with him he'd learn the truth.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, and he even told me what happened after you died. Most people in Konoha, except for Hinata-chan here, treated me so badly I actually envied the second-class citizens."

"I'm so sorry son. I tried to get you away from Minato's grasp, but I failed. All I could do was put a seal on you that would preserve my soul in you if my body died and allow me to interact with you in time."

**"Your soul was in him this whole time?"** Kyuubi asked. **"How could I have not noticed?" **

"You weren't looking for me. Besides, like you I was for the most part asleep, and with Uzumaki chakra being alike you probably couldn't tell the difference between mine and his." Kushina answered.

Naruto blinked. "Wait a minute, could this be part of that genjutsu the Yondaime put on me so I'd see fake parents at certain times?"

Kyuubi shook his head. **"Impossible. The seals here are designed to give disembodied beings like bijuu sealed away in humans a way to get their bodies back. A genjutsu isn't a living creature. This can only be Kushina's spirit itself."**

Kushina nodded. "I worried Minato would kill me before I got Kuramamaru away from Konoha, so I placed an invisible Uzumaki clan seal he and his lousy sensei couldn't recognize on him by using my own afterbirth fluids. It ensured that my soul upon death would be contained within my son even if the seal itself was washed off later after it did it's job. Though because it was, I was unable to communicate with Kuramamaru himself without a strong secondary source of chakra being used, like Kurama's."

"Excuse me, but who's this Kurama and Kuramamaru you keep talking about?" Hinata asked.

Kushina looked perplexed. "Kurama is Kyuubi's real name. I can accept your ignorance of that, but how could you be with my son and not even know his name?"

Hinata was about to answer, but Naruto butted in for her. "Mom, after you died, the Yondaime renamed me. As far as everyone else is concerned, my name is Naruto, not Kuramamaru."

Kushina looked shocked then pissed. "That bastard stole not only your life but your name too? I swear I'd kill him if I could get outside this shrine."

**"If someone were to strengthen and rewrite the seals here, that should be possible."** Kyuubi commented, trying to hint to the reunited mother and son about something. **"There were designed to work for me, but I believe you'd fit the criteria too. You're a chakra entity without a body, just like me so I don't see why it wouldn't. Only problem is you might not be able to leave Kuo without sage training either."**

Kushina smiled at the idea while Naruto perked up to hear this as well. "Let me look them over, since I was taught by the best fuinjutsu users in the world. And Ku... my son could do the actual physical process for me."

"You can call me what you want Mom. I just worry it would confuse Hinata-chan too much here." Naruto told her.

The pale-eyed girl approached him and held his hand. "Your name isn't important, be it Naruto-kun or Kuramamaru-kun. As long as you're my friend and the boy I care for, I'll call you whatever you want. I'd... even change my name too if it made you feel better about this."

Kushina smiled at Hinata, happy to see her son with someone that truly cares for him, enough that she also came here with him.

**"That's actually a good idea, so Konoha and Namikaze can't track you down so easily when you leave here."** Kyuubi stated.

"For now, let's work on this." Naruto said.

_(AN: From this point on, the character names in context will be the names we're most used to so you know who to picture, but in dialogue the names will be what the speaking character chooses to call another character.)_

* * *

Training in the sage arts was delayed for a couple of days so Kushina could focus on revising the seals, which required Naruto to remain in the shrine and do little training. While she was busy, she talked to Naruto about what he'd been through and what he learned about Minato's plans, and he learned from her about what kind of person she was. Kushina was also greatly relieved that Hinata didn't fall into the trap all the others had fallen into, and thought that said a lot about Konoha's character how all but a select few turned against one child with such little encouragement.

While they were waiting, Naruto tried what little training he could do indoors, such as some chakra control exercises while Hinata tried some chakra-increasing exercises too. Also they tried a light taijutsu spar, light meaning little force behind hits and restricted movements to avoid damaging the walls. Mostly it was done to help improve Naruto's form and help Hinata improve her speed. She resisted at first, not wanting to hurt Naruto, but found it easier when she was told not to use any chakra in her hits, just work on the mobility part of the juuken.

When they left the shrine they were instructed to work on tree-walking after being told how to do it while they also had to hunt down and forage for their food. This was one of the times Naruto could instruct Hinata in something, and he felt glad that there was something he could contribute to here as well.

On the third day Kushina finally had something to say about the seals. "These look like they suffered from fatigue over time. Seals are meant to last long in most cases but none of them can last forever. Ink does fade over time after all. These ones were done well, but the ink has faded on several of them. The good news is enough remains to recreate the pattern at full strength." For a brief moment she paused. "The bad news... I see no way for my son to not be affected by this."

"Affected in what way?" Hinata asked.

Kushina took a deep breath. "Whoever designed this must not have been that concerned about what would happen to the jinchuuriki. It will give myself and Kurama our bodies back, but the process of releasing our chakra from Kuramamaru would destroy his own body. I've been trying to come up with a way around it, but our options are limited. Our best option is to add a limiter so our chakra isn't released all at once, but the process would still be incredibly stressful on his system and he might suffer a chakra-induced seizure. However, we can avoid that by placing a seal on Hinata to give your chakra systems a temporary connection to each other so she'd reduce any stress on him by half by providing a second outlet for us."

Once she finished she saw her son look towards Hinata with concern. "Wouldn't that harm her?"

"No worse than it would harm you. Of course she'd be exposed to Kurama's chakra too, but not long enough to truly be endangered by it."

"If it'll help Naruto-kun, I'll do it." Hinata said before he could, then looked at him. "Like I said before, we're in this together no matter what." Intertwining their hands together she looked at Naruto smiling. "I want to stand by his side and help both of you out. I don't want to run forever. Sooner or later we will have to make a stand, and if this can help us, I'll do what I can." Everyone turned to Hinata, shocked from what she said.

Kyuubi smiled and agreed with what she said. '**Sooner or later they will have to make a stand against Namikaze, against Konoha, against everyone. It would be foolish to pretend their problems were history now.'**

Kushina watching them both couldn't help but smile seeing how dedicated they are to each other in the matter of a short time. "Very well. Son, take the supplies and do what I show you." There was a bottle of ink and a brush brought to them by the foxes. Naruto took the brush, dipped it in ink, and traced on the walls where Kushina moved her finger since she couldn't do any of the sealing herself. It was a slow process, but it had to be done carefully. Especially the part where they had to add to it to safeguard Naruto, and on Hinata's bare stomach and back for her to do her role. Nothing inappropriate was exposed, but both got red from it.

"Ready?" Kushina asked. Naruto nodded. "Good, then channel your chakra into this seal. Hinata, make sure no matter what you never let go of him, and try your hardest to keep the seal on your stomach in contact with his own." Hinata nodded and pressed herself against him until her bare stomach was touching his own. With this kind of contact Naruto could feel her breasts pressing into his chest too and got nervous, but did as told and channeled his chakra into the seal Kushina specified for a moment.

The result was the entire sealing system in the room seemed to create a vacuum around Naruto's chakra system and singled out any foreign chakra with it. The vacuum effect started working around the seal to pull Kyuubi's and Kushina's chakras out, weakening the seals and undermining them. Sure, the seal was a near-flawless recreation of an Uzumaki seal, but like elements one was always overpowered by another in some way, and seals worked no differently. These seals on the wall would soon overpower the containment seal.

Naruto gritted his teeth and shut his eyes, trying to bear the growing pain. It felt like someone was trying to suck his organs out of him and weren't doing a good job of it. Hinata felt the worst of a lot of extra heat coming off of him. The heat around her stomach soon started to become close to unbearable but she pressed herself more onto him.

"Naruto-kun..." Placing her head on his shoulder, she took a deep breath while he held her tighter.

"Hinata-chan..." He held her more as the vacuum on his body continued to grow while heat radiated from Hinata's stomach.

Then the seal cracked and shattered, and the extra chakra within Naruto started being pulled out quickly. Now it hurt a lot more for Naruto, and Hinata was feeling burned by the excess chakra. All of Kyuubi's and Kushina's chakra started leaving his body through his tenketsu, but the quantity of it was too much to vent out. Hinata's seal worked to draw out more of it into herself and let it pour out through the seal on her back, but there was a slight problem with it. Her chakra network and reserves were smaller than Naruto's and had difficulty containing the excess chakra as it passed through her. So to compensate, she started releasing chakra through all her tenketsu as well.

As they were, both young ninja were glowing red, feeling overheated, and could swear something was happening to them internally from this process. Hinata tightened her arms around Naruto's shoulders to ensure the two of them remained close and she took a bit of his shirt into her mouth so she had something to bite down on.

Beside the two teens two shapes started to form in the chakra and they were much more solid than before. And as they formed, bones seemed to condense inside the chakra and little by little bodies were built around them. The only difference was one looked human and the other looked vulpine.

The process was slow and painful for Naruto and Hinata, but it did end and the two collapsed onto their sides, Hinata still managing to keep her arms around her love interest. She was pressing her stomach onto him while Naruto continued to feel her breasts pressed against his chest, but he was in no condition to notice it.

As for the other two, they opened their eyes and looked over themselves. One was a red fox with nine tails, the other was a redhead adult woman with violet eyes and no clothes on her. "It worked?" Kushina said, amazed she was alive again. "It worked!"

**"Not exactly."** Kyuubi told her. **"Look closer."**

Confused, Kushina did. She didn't notice anything wrong other than her lack of clothes until she turned around and saw a single fox tail sticking out above her ass. "What the...?" On reflex, she felt her scalp and found two fox ears. "How did I gain fox traits?"

**"My chakra may have influenced your own in the process. Or maybe there was a flaw in the seal you missed. But at least you're alive again."** He stretched his limbs, feeling so relieved to be free from that dank wet cage.

Kushina nodded then looked to her son. "Kuramamaru?" She got closer and gasped at what she saw.

Some of Naruto's and Hinata's clothes had been burned off in the process, but the really surprising thing was the changes to their bodies. Both had fox tails and ears on them, and their hair had been turned Uzumaki red. Naruto had two tails but Hinata had only one. If it weren't for the fox traits, both of them could have easily passed for Uzumaki now. Naruto's ears and tails were tipped yellow while Hinata's were tipped blueish-black. Kushina's features were all red.

"What happened?" Kushina asked.

**"I don't know, but I'd guess whatever affected you affected them too."** Kyuubi offered. **"Judging from your scents, you're all kitsune hanyous now. At least this can be a good thing."**

"How?" Kushina asked.

**"Konoha and Namikaze won't be looking for hanyous. They'll also be stronger, and should be able to leave Kuo even without completing the sage training. So now they won't feel confined here so much. And neither will you."**

Kushina silently thought it over, seeing the benefits. At the same time, Naruto and Hinata woke up. When they saw each other, they gasped. "What happened to you?" Both asked together.

"An unexpected side effect, that's what." Kushina told them, drawing their attention.

Naruto's eyes widened when he saw his mother bare and looked away. "MOM!" In the meantime he was at least glad to see Hinata was okay, even if her clothes were damaged.

Closing his eyes he heard chuckling coming from Kyuubi. **"Who knew they would be good as vixens?"** Kushina and Hinata turned to him asking what did that mean. **"Another time for that explanation."**

Kushina regained her composure and placed her hair in front of her while her tail did a good job covering what her hair couldn't. "Sorry son, but it's not like I have any other choice but to be nude right now. And it looked like you two need some new clothes too." Both looked at themselves and saw they were still covered, just not as much as they used to be. Naruto's abs, legs, and right arm were exposed, as were Hinata's legs, back, and bra-covered chest. They blushed but strangely neither felt compelled to cover themselves. And at this time Kushina could see their eyes were still a normal byakugan and rinnegan.

Kyuubi cleared his throat. **"Everyone stay here. I will go into town and tell others to bring some proper attire. And I'll have a little free time to myself if you don't mind. I think I've learned that right."**

Kushina nodded. "True. But please return when you can so my son and his friend can complete their training."

Kyuubi nodded then left, wondering how big a stir this would cause in Shobikou.

* * *

Back in Konoha, there was already a stir. They had been searching for days, but absolutely no sign of Naruto or Hinata could be found. The best lead was the Inuzuka's finding a scent trail from both of them, but it stopped cold about a hundred meters outside Konoha's walls.

Most people were unaware either teen was even gone. After all, the general populous didn't care at all about Naruto. Even those that didn't hate him viewed him as unimportant and his suffering as none of their business. The only ones that did notice outside those Sarutobi had informed were the Ichiraku's, and that's because Naruto was never away from their stand for more than one consecutive day unless he was trapped in the hospital. The Hyuuga clan cared more about where Hinata was, only because when she wasn't there they couldn't do anything to her.

Sarutobi found he had no choice, he contacted Jiraiya hoping the toad sage could shed some light on the subject.

It took the self-proclaimed super prevert a few days to show up. When he did he was not happy to hear the news. "Damn, what could have gone wrong? Minato's not going to like this."

Jiraiya long ago had been convinced that Minato was the one the toad prophet said would determine the fate of the world. The blonde learned and performed at an exceptional rate, single-handedly turned a war around in his favor with A-ranked jutsus he created, and became the youngest hokage in history. Jiraiya didn't need any more convincing than that, and when his student decided he wanted all the bijuu in his personal possession to make the world a better place, who was he to argue? He even helped provide him with the seals he used to make Kushina unable to refuse his physical advantages so he could have his way with her.

"I know, but unfortunately we may have to contact him and you're the only one who can get a message to him. But first, can you think of _any_ way we can find and retrieve Naruto before we have to resort to that?" Sarutobi requested. His own reasons for going along with the plan were a bit more thought-out than Jiraiya's had been, but at the same time selfish too. He believed that the best strategy in combat was any that maximized casualties in the enemy while minimizing casualties in his own troops. A jinchuuriki was in his eyes the best weapon for such a policy, as they could deliver the most damage while the one most at risk was just themselves as long as everyone else pulled back. They would slaughter the enemy and the only loss Konoha would suffer would be the jinchuuriki itself, and they were replaceable as long as seal experts and orphans were handy. In short, Sarutobi viewed jinchuuriki as disposable tools and little more.

"I have one, and if this doesn't work nothing will." Jiraiya said before reaching deep into his supplies to pull out a triangular piece of metal with a circular seal inscribed on it. "This is a chakra compass, designed to track only one chakra source and point the holder to where the source is. Of course this one is designed to lock on the kid's chakra. Even if Naruto's outside it's range, it should at least take us to where he's used chakra, then from there we should be able to find him."

"How long would that take?" asked Sarutobi, thinking Jiraiya's spy network would be more useful to find two so-called genin that left Konoha. 'With them out and about, what are the odds of them reaching another hidden village or nation?' As soon as he asked himself that he shook his head, certain it wouldn't be possible. Even with the time frame they have it wouldn't be enough to avoid all the shinobi he had under his command.

"Depends on how far he's gone. Which I doubt is far. If anything he's probably just hiding somewhere really well waiting for us to stop looking for him." answered Jiraiya.

"Well no more of that. Find him, and find him now. To make it easier I'll have the Anbu take you to where his scent trail cut off. That should at least make the search quicker." Sarutobi insisted. With a snap of his fingers the anbu appeared.

With that, Jiraiya was quickly taken outside Konoha by an Inuzuka Anbu who showed him the last place Naruto's scent could be located. The toad sage activated the chakra compass and held it out on the palm of his hand, knowing after it locked onto Naruto's chakra it would point the general direction the whiskered blonde should be in.

To his surprise, the compass just spun around in circles repeatedly, like it had no idea where to point.

"Is it supposed to do that?" The Anbu asked.

"No, it isn't. Maybe's it's just acting slow since it's been a while since it was last used. Give it another minute." Jiraiya answered, irritated that the Inuzuka anbu was breathing down his neck. They waited another minute. Then another. And another. But the compass did not point anywhere.

"This can't be good." The Anbu said.

Jiraiya nodded. 'This can only mean Naruto's simply vanished without a trail. Either Minato's already gotten to him and hasn't told anyone, or somehow someone reverse-summoned Naruto away. But how could he get in touch with a summons? Either way, it's looks like we really have no choice but to contact Minato about this.'

* * *

"Hey Teuchi-sempai!" Someone greeted as they entered Naruto's favorite ramen shop.

The owner came up and smiled. "Asuma, how many times do I have to tell you not to call me sempai. I'm retired now."

"Like I keep telling you, you were in the Twelve Guardians before me so I'm kind of obligated to see you as a sempai. I even took your place so that obligates me more." Asuma said in good nature.

"I'm surprised your father let you come back. He was pretty mad when he sent you off to work out of Konoha."

Asuma nodded. "I hate to say this, but at the time I was actually glad he couldn't kill Orochimaru. Don't get me wrong, the traitor deserves to die, but since my old man couldn't kill him, killing me wouldn't be any easier."

Teuchi nodded. "So how did you convince him to let you return? Surely you knew he had no intention of letting you protect Naruto like you did years ago."

"Actually he asked me to return."

Teuchi sure was surprised. "He did? Why?"

"How about I tell you while I'm eating? I'll take a usual for me."

Teuchi nodded and went in the back to prepare the food. He came out and handed Asuma a bowl of chicken ramen. "So what can you tell me?"

"Not much really. At first I was just upset he kicked me out then said he wanted me back. Right before Naruto became genin even. Usually I'd say no, but I knew something was up so I had to check into it. Turns out he wanted me to be a jounin sensei now. Of course I was hesitant and made the token argument that only if I looked after Naruto. He said absolutely not. Another jounin was selected for that. Someone who would follow my father's plan to stunt his growth and warp his mind."

Teuchi groaned. "Their plans sicken me. If it weren't for the fact they threatened to send my daughter to a whorehouse I would have told Naruto what his idolized Sandaime really thought of him."

Asuma nodded and ate some more as he spoke. "Even with my pleas he refused to change his mind. Something about how it was for the best. Criminal is what I would call it. After that I asked why he wanted me back here in the first place since neither of us had changed our stands on the issue. Personally I think the Fire Daimyo has some role in it. Everyone seems to have a stand to take when it comes to Naruto. Day after day the poor boy suffers yet people like us who try to do what's right are the ones accused of being criminal."

Teuchi nodded grimly. "It's a shame there aren't enough people like us to effectively stand up to those going along with the hokage."

Asuma nodded as he swallowed some noodles. "Nowhere near enough to make a change. Only enough to ensure Naruto didn't become some homicidal maniac. Was it enough though? He's got no friends, no family, and thanks to my father he wants someone for all the wrong reasons. Unless something happens to wake up Naruto he's going to spend his entire life trying to please people that think the only good thing about him is he's killable. Not even those his own age might give him the chance to prove himself with the way he's been forced to become what he is. Tragic really. Even so, I'm not giving up that easily. Despite what they want for him, Naruto has the right to be happy with where his life goes."

"I couldn't say it better myself." The old ramen chef replied.

Asuma then tapped the bowl with his chopsticks twice. "Thanks for the food Sempai." He then stood up and paid for it.

"Someday you'll have to address me normally." Teuchi said taking the money.

"Not today." The wind user said in a friendly manner before leaving the stand.

Teuchi took the used dish and went into the back room. "Did you get that?"

Ayame nodded. "I think I did." She held up a pad of paper and pen. "If I heard the code right, then this is what he was telling us."

She held out the pad to her father so he could read what Asuma couldn't come out and say, using an old code believe Twelve Guardians using the first letter of every sentence Asuma said between signals to start and stop.

'Naruto has escaped. Now hunted.'

* * *

Back in Shobikou, Kyuubi was getting reacquainted with his own kind while Naruto, Hinata, and Kushina were doing a little bonding in private, after getting fresh clothes of course. Kushina was given a purple kimono with a green obi and Hinata was given a lavender yukata with a white obi and white diamond shapes scattered randomly over it. Naruto was given an dark orange haori with black hakama. Since the fox summons hadn't interacted with people in a long time, they were a little behind in current fashion trends.

They spent a lot of their time training and getting used to their new hanyou bodies, but what they really did the most was get to know each other better a bit more. Virtually every time they did anything there was a conversation with some more secrets and facts shared between them. With this, Naruto got to learn more about Hinata and see her as something other than the shy quiet girl from his class and got to learn more about what his mother experienced.

Kushina learned a lot too, but little of it made her happy. She learned what Minato had arranged for after her death. She learned what Naruto experienced from thoughtless and well-aware people be they civilian or shinobi. She also learned about what Hinata went through, and while it wasn't personal for her, she did feel for the girl.

"I think I have an idea why the genjutsus used never affected you." Kushina told the former bluenette.

"R-really? What do you think?" Hinata asked, her stutter greatly disappearing being around Naruto so much without fear of rejection from him.

"Genjutsus are designed to work by targeting the sensory part of the brain and control what the brain perceives as real, the level of control based on the power and purpose of the jutsu. The byakugan is meant to see through genjutsu because the eyes send signals to the brain that conflict with what the genjutsu tries to make the victim see, thus weakening the genjutsu and destabilizing it so it falls apart quickly. Problem is the byakugan is not immune to genjutsu since some rare types can affect the mind despite what the eye sees. However, I suspect you may have an inherent immunity to genjutsu, at least enough that your mind can't be controlled in such a way. Though you should still be prepared for the possibility some genjutsu can affect you." Kushina explained, tapping her chin thinking of the subject at hand.

"You really think so?" Hinata asked, surprised by the theory that her mind was immune to outside control somehow.

"It makes sense to me. After all, the sharingan often gives its wielders powers other sharingan users don't possess. Why wouldn't the byakugan work the same way?" Kushina replied.

Hinata thought it over. While she didn't know much about the sharingan other than what spiteful elder Hyuugas told her about it, she had no reason to believe Kushina was wrong in her claim. And she did recall hearing about several exceptional Hyuuga with unique traits, like one without a blind spot and another said to see real ghosts. Maybe she _did_ have a special version of the byakugan that protected her free will better than most people. It would explain why no thought-altering genjutsu had worked on her before.

Kushina was glad to get that out of the way, but she had another thing to explain to Naruto. Relearning everything Konoha had tried to teach him. And while he had accepted the fact that most of what he had learned in Konoha was not good for him, this was basically reprogramming him and it wouldn't be easy. Fortunately the factor in her favor was that there wasn't a whole lot to correct in the first place.

"Son, as you already know, Konoha tried warping your sense of right and wrong so that they could take advantage of it. And they kept you just smart and strong enough to serve their purposes but none of your own. I think that's why they set up the whole thing where you stole the scroll. They were probably testing to see if they succeeded. I suspect that if you remained in Konoha unaware of all this it would have been months before you learned anything more, even something as simple as tree-walking. We're going to change that while we're here, even though it may mean relearning everything you thought you knew."

"Sounds boring." Naruto said, not whiny because he didn't want to offend his mother.

"I know, but not everything that needs to be done is fun to do." Kushina told him. "With my help, you'll become the kind of ninja _you_ always wanted to be, not the kind Namikaze wanted." Everyone agreed to refer to the Yondaime as simply Namikaze, thus in no way honoring him. "And with my help, you'll be able to stand up to any threat that comes your way. You just need to know how and why."

Naruto nodded. "Do I need to learn any of this?" Hinata asked timidly.

"I imagine it wouldn't hurt. The Hyuugas may not have been able to affect your behavior directly, but they certainly made up for it by raising you as they did. My lessons will help you learn how to fight back rather than just defend yourself. No good warrior goes into battle armed with just a shield. You need to learn how to hit back, even if it hurts someone."

Hinata slowly nodded, well aware of that even though at times her body seemed to disagree with her. "I... I will try."

"Okay then, let's start with the obvious stuff." Kushina started, then proceeded with telling them what was appropriate and inappropriate, both on the battlefield and off it. She was met with many questions and instances of denial, but over the days she felt she made an impact.

* * *

In a hidden place in the Elemental Nations, a man who hid his true name and face away from the rest of the world was relaxing in private and enjoying his favorite meal and drink. Times like these he allowed his face to be unmasked, mostly because no one would see it.

He didn't look much different than he had thirteen years ago, other than his hair and eyes. His hair, once long and blonde, was now short but still spiked, and thanks to a seal he placed on his scalp hidden by his hair, his follicles grew it as black instead of blonde now. His eyes used to be blue, but he had arranged for special surgery to have them replaced with a doujutsu he knew would grant him even more power than he already had. And unlike Kakashi, who had surgery on the field with limited tools done by a non-professional, his surgery was done in a hospital with all the proper equipment performed by experts. Thus he could use his new eyes freely and even deactivate them unlike Kakashi.

'You can't ever have too much power.' He thought, his basic principle on life. 'I'm just glad Fugaku agreed to donate the eyes of a dead Uchiha all those years ago. All he asked in return was a guarantee he would become the Godaime. Too bad he wasn't patient enough to wait for it. Oh well, I got what I wanted out of the deal and that's the important thing.'

Originally, Sarutobi was only supposed to hold the hokage position for a couple of years then give it to Fugaku under Minato's orders. During the third year of Sarutobi's second reign, the old man decided he didn't want to give up direct control over Naruto and fought to keep his position. He persuaded Minato that Naruto was seeing Sarutobi as a source of support and comfort and replacing him with Fugaku might drive Naruto in a bad direction and delay him being of proper use for a while. Minato convinced Fugaku to wait just a bit longer. He reasoned that when Naruto was a bit older he could handle the difference in hokages.

Sarutobi kept delaying, and by the sixth year Fugaku ran out of patience. He decided he was going to take what he had been promised whether Minato supported the decision or not. Unfortunately Sarutobi got wind of the coup d'etat and used Itachi to eliminate the entire clan as a message that _he_ was the one in charge until Minato came back.

Minato couldn't say he completely approved, but he liked Sarutobi's initiative here. He then requested that Itachi be sent to join his forming group that when strong and organized enough would be used to track down and capture the jinchuuriki. Not to mention Minato wanted to keep an eye on someone who was capable of killing an entire clan on his own in one night. That kind of talent threatened him and he wanted the chance to use and possibly eliminate the prodigy.

'So far Akatsuki's going fine. Orochimaru bailed on us and that's slowed us down, but we should still be ready to start pursuing the jinchuuriki within a couple of months. We still need to finish excavating the statue that will contain them and finish understanding the jutsu that will separate bijuu from host. And here Nagato thinks this is all his idea. What a fool, like all Uzumakis.' Minato thought, finding it humorous how he used some members from that clan to do his dirty work for him.

Minato cleverly hid himself even further by pretending he wasn't even in charge of his own creation. That way if someone came looking for it, Nagato would be the focus of the attention. With his 'Tobi' persona and role, Minato would barely be given any thought as a serious threat, even within the group. That's another reason why he kept the focus off himself. These were missing nin with personal issues and fondness for aggression after all. No reason for them to turn on him and be killed thus resulting in delaying the project even further.

A puff of smoke appeared in front of him and before him was a green toad. "Hey Minato, Jiraiya has a message for you."

"What?" Minato asked, sounding annoyed.

"He says some kid from Konoha has gone missing. Vanished off the face of the earth. And apparently this is no ordinary kid. He referenced 'The Tale of a Gutsy Ninja', saying you'd know what it means."

"What?" Minato asked again, this time shocked. 'Naruto is missing? Dammit, this was not supposed to happen. He's supposed to be in Konoha trying to gain respect and strength until I come along and use him for the final stages of my plan.' "Someone screwed up here."

The toad nodded. "That's what he says. He thinks the kid may have gone to the summon realm. We'll keep our ears out for news of any humans in our world, but we can only learn so much from outside Myoboku. He wants to know what they should do on their end."

Minato rubbed his temples. "Tell them to proceed as normal so the uninformed don't get suspicious, but never actually drop the search. I'll look for him too and even though this is sooner than I hoped, I may even have to use the father card to get him to be cooperative." He felt a bad taste in his mouth after he said that.

"Okay. What should be done if he's found?"

"Capture and contain, but don't kill. I need him alive for now."

"Understood." The toad said before disappearing.

Minato cursed under his breath. "Dammit. I did not plan all this for all these years just for some kid to screw things up for me. I _will_ get what I want, even if my own son has to pay for it with his blood."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

It's been a while since the arrival at Kuo and Kushina right now is watching the two teens from Konoha practicing their skills and chakra control. Ever since they changed into hanyous, control for both of them went downhill and they needed to relearn it. That and how to use their new senses, and balance with their new body structures as humans were not used to having tails.

Their new senses also took some getting used to. Having claw-like nails made it tough to scratch an itch since if you scratched too hard you would bleed. The vulpine-strength sense of smell was something new to them; they can smell four maybe even five times better then an average human. Their bodies are stronger and tougher. It took each of them time to get used to the new features that they all gained but at least now they felt more at ease with themselves.

Soon they got tree-walking perfected and were advancing to water-walking now. Neither had succeeded yet but both were doing much better. Hinata was told to train without her jacket weighing her down, which she didn't mind doing. Until she got wet and Naruto saw her in a wet shirt. She was embarrassed, but surprised herself by just turning away and covering up rather than fainting. Her top and his own clothes kept getting wet the rest of the day, and by now she barely cared about it.

He had already seen it, what more could he see without her actually stripping?

"Good, you're both doing better at water-walking. Let's stop there for today. While we're resting, was there anything you two wanted to ask me?" Kushina asked, hoping to help work on their education a bit more.

Naruto nodded. "Mom, why do you think Namikaze became such a bad person? And why is Konoha supporting his plan?"

Kushina did not know how to answer that right away. Though she completely understood his desire to know the answer. Since Naruto was an orphan, all he ever wanted to know was who his parents were. Now that he knew, it shattered any hope he had that they were parents he could have been happy with. Kushina was one thing, since she showed no resentment towards him even if he wasn't planned, but Minato was completely different.

Not only that, but a lot of this clashed with what Naruto and Hinata had been led to believe about the Yondaime. While she was alive, Kushina knew Minato had been praised and glorified a bit by those that heard of his exploits, but apparently since her death the glamour had only gotten larger, likely encouraged by those that knew he was still alive and those that were still bitter about Kyuubi's appearance years ago. Either way, the general consensus in Konoha was that Minato was a very admirable and heroic man that would be loved until Konoha's dying day and beyond. To hear he was a vile cruel man, to say the least, was hard for the teens to comprehend even if they weren't arguing with the evidence.

They have seen what has happened and the evidence left behind. Even Kushina wondered with all these files how much damage it can do to Konoha if others saw it.

"Son, I'm not sure how to best answer that. I can only tell you what I know and saw, and yes I'm a bit biased in that, but that's all I know. I'm no Yamanaka, I can't get into his head and find out the true answer. But considering our opinions, what I think is as good a guess as any." Kushina started.

"To truly understand why he became what he became, we have to start from the beginning." She told them. Thinking of the begining "When I first saw Namikaze in the academy, I thought he was kind of wimpy. He would later prove me wrong when Kumo tried kidnapping me when I was a young genin."

"Wait, Kumo kidnapped you?" Hinata asked, shocked to hear she wasn't the only one who'd experienced such a thing. She shivered a bit and pushed the memories away while Naruto saw this and intertwined his hand with hers.

Kushina nodded and smiled looking at the small interaction between the two. "Yes, they found out about my special chakra and wanted to take Kurama for themselves. Kumo, like most ninja villages, is a bit unscrupulous in how they get what they want. Even as far of kidnapping."

Hinata nodded. "I'm well aware of that. They tried ki-kidnapping me too when I was three. My... my father saved me, but I b-bet he regrets it now." Looking back on everything that has happened, would her father turn a blind eye on her at that time to avoid having to take care of her when she got older? Would he have let her be taken if he knew what she would become?

"I'm surprised to hear this." Kushina told her. "Anyway, as you can see they didn't succeed in my case. It was because of Namikaze they failed. I left a trail of my hair like one would do with breadcrumbs, and he noticed. He found me and saved me from them, complimenting me and saying he always liked my red hair. Like most girls my age, I was a bit affected by the praise and couldn't help but start admiring him."

"So what changed?" Naruto asked.

"I'm not exactly sure when it started. For all I know he was always interested in ruling the world even as a kid and just hid it well, or the plan formed as he got older and aware of his skills. But I first noticed something wasn't right when he started using fuinjutsu from the Uzumaki clan. There was no way he could have obtained that honorably, since he wasn't a member and I taught him none. We looked into it and found his sensei Jiraiya of the sannin was spying on us stealing our clan jutsu. We brought it up to the Sandaime who was in charge at the time, but he ignored it saying if our jutsu could be stolen it was our own fault for having lax security" Kushina muttered in a bitter tone.

"How horrible." Hinata said.

Kushina nodded. "We pushed for justice done, but we were denied. After that, Uzumaki's kept being sent on mission after mission, and the fatality rate started getting large for our clan compared to others. After a while we realized what was going on."

Hinata gasped. "They were killing you off little by little to avoid a scandal." Kushina nodded again. "Just like the Uchiha Massacre, just done slowly rather than all at once." Thanks to the files Sarutobi had written down, they all now knew the truth behind Itachi's actions. They knew he killed the clan to prevent an uprising, and the Uchiha were going to do an uprising because Sarutobi didn't want to give them what Minato had promised.

Kushina closed her eyes briefly. "Once we knew that, most of us deserted Konoha, waiting for the leadership to change so we could come back. Of course, a small number of us remained to affect Konoha from inside. We tried having our cousins the Senju and the Uchiha help us, but after an internal conflict our clans just sort of grew apart. And we had no way of knowing which clans had members helping the Sandaime kill us off. So for all practical purposes, we were on our own."

"Why would Konoha turn against the Uzumaki in the first place if we were so helpful in creating it? But also why would our cousin clans turn against us too?" Naruto asked.

According to Kushina, the Uzumaki had two cousin clans, the Senju and the Uchiha. For ages the two clans had been bitter rivals, but the Uzumaki clan had been the medium that kept them from trying to kill each other. Sometimes Uzumakis had married Senju and Uchiha to keep the peace in tough times. And when the Uzumaki found an incredible amount of valuable ores on Uzu, they agreed to share the profits with their cousins as long as their infamous feud and live in one village. Naruto found it weird and unsettling that in some way he was related to the first two hokages and even Sasuke.

"It started with Senju Hashirama. He meant well and never had any ill intentions for us, but not everyone agreed. He captured all nine bijuu and gave them away to other villages to promote good relations between them. Giving another person something that can be used as a weapon says a lot, and anyone with any sense of honor would find it hard to use such a weapon against the one who gave it to them. Some Senju and Uchiha did not agree with this, thinking they should have kept all bijuu for themselves to beat all other villages into submission. Him marrying a jinchuuriki wasn't taken well either by many, but the Senju did not completely oppose."

"From there things didn't improve that much. Senju Tobirama fought for our cause like his brother, but a good number of his family were against him by then. They denied us any interaction with our brethren in Uzushio, and restricted our mission availability and knowledge access within Konoha claiming since we were connected to another village our loyalty was questioned, and always would be until we absolved any and all connection to Uzushio and swore complete loyalty to Konoha from then on. We hated it, but we had no choice but to agree."

"From there, it only got worse." Kushina continued. "By the time I was made into the second jinchuuriki, Uzushio was under attack. The devastation was swift and extreme, and Uzushio didn't stand a chance. Everyone was killed, even down to the last baby. I believe some from the village did escape and are hiding, but for all official reasons, there were no survivors." She then glanced at the files. "And now that I know why, I still feel like I want to throw up."

According to the files, Uzushio's destruction was set-up, by Konoha itself. After the Konoha-based Uzumaki chose to remain and Mito died off, some people in Konoha decided to ensure no one in Kushina's family even had the option of connecting to Uzushio again. To do so, they eliminated the village and any witnesses to the crime, blaming it on an enemy village that couldn't be properly identified. And thanks to spies like Jiraiya and more, they learned how best to get around Uzushio's defenses for an even more effective massacre.

"After that, we were basically prisoners in Konoha. Even as a child I knew that, but I also knew they couldn't afford to kill us off completely. We were the only clan in Konoha that could safely handle being made into jinchuuriki, so they needed us to be made into their weapons. We were trying to find a way to save ourselves by determining who our real allies were, and sure enough, Namikaze made that difficult."

The scorned woman paused to avoid giving in to her anger for a moment, but the two teens clearly saw her tighten her fists and scowl with closed eyes. She recovered after a moment, but still looked upset. "There was a benefit to our actions that will come very much in hand for the two of you later, but for now I'll continue my story. While we were trying to find our allies, Namikaze in one move single-handedly turned all of the clans against us."

"How?" Naruto and Hinata asked.

"He masqueraded as one of our clansmen, got together with the Hyuuga clan..." She paused, giving Hinata an empathetic look right then. "And created the Caged Bird Seal."

"What?" Hinata asked, standing up. "That man is the one who created the seal?" Kushina sadly nodded. "But that can't be. It's been used for generations."

"Only two generations." Kushina corrected. "Your clan created a false history for it to justify its use and silence anyone who'd reveal the truth. Those that promised to support Namikaze in his goal became the Main House, and those that refused became the Branch House or dead. And from what I heard, he had no qualms in silencing those that would have resisted. He killed anyone and everyone to keep their mouths shut. Then when he was finished, he told all clans that the seal originated from my clan, and a non-Uzumaki seal expert verified that claim. We tried to tell everyone that we did not create it or even have anything to do with it, but the damage had been done. To all the other clans, we were a clan that could enslave virtually anyone."

"They were afraid of you." Naruto commented while Hinata took a seat again, this time a little closer to him to calm herself down.

Kushina nodded. "From there we were an isolated clan. Even the Senju had to break away to save face, though they promised it was just a political move to avoid the fallout and they'd continue to support us in our hard time. At least some of them. By that point, Namikaze approached me offering me a chance to escape the prosecution. By then I knew full well he was the one behind most if not all of this and any admiration I had for him was too dead to resuscitate. I told him to go fuck himself, and he said he'd rather fuck me, then when he set off a series of seals I lost my mobility and he... did just that."

Kushina teared up a bit at the memory, but before Naruto or Hinata could say anything to soothe her she continued. "Somehow he knew I was the jinchuuriki, and somehow he learned that giving birth was the time the seal on a jinchuuriki is at its weakest. He impregnated me to weaken the seal and lure Kurama out, then he could reseal him inside the child and do what he wished with it, having all of Kurama's power at his fingertips. He also knew I would never allow him to touch me, so he knew exactly what seals to use to make me unable to resist him. Now that I think about it, this can only mean he either stole more from us than we originally thought, or someone in my clan turned to his side as well."

Her body quaked from repressed sobbing. Naruto now felt he had the chance to ask an important question. "Mom, why didn't you get rid of me before I was born? If you did, all of this could have been prevented."

Kushina looked at her son, horrified he said that. "Son, I couldn't do that. I was taught that's a horrible thing to do, and even if I had Namikaze would have likely tried again and again until he got the result he wanted. I thought I could have you in secret, and maybe leave Konoha to give you a real life, but that bastard found me and killed any chance of that. I'm not like the others, I can't even think of killing a baby as something good to do."

"I'm glad. I don't know what my life would be like with Naruto-kun in it." Hinata said, holding his hand in her own.

Kushina smiled at seeing that. "Anyway, that's what I know. If I had to guess why Namikaze did all he did, I'd say he's got a dream of conquering the other hidden villages and having Konoha ruling over them all, with him ruling over Konoha. He was given a lot of praise for his talents and accomplishments and I think it went to his head a bit. Especially after his lousy pervert sensei filled his head with prophecies about one ninja deciding the fate of the world. Namikaze likely decided he was that one ninja and decided the world was his, and from these files, we know how he intends to conquer the Elemental Nations."

Naruto nodded. "He's going to try and capture and kill other people with demons in them too, then use their demons for himself. I'm only alive because he thinks using me will make it easier for him."

Kushina nodded. "Yes, and I refuse to see that man win. I will not ask you to assist me, but I want you two to know, I intend on killing Namikaze."

Naruto and Hinata shared a look then turned back to her agreeing. "Mom, I don't think either one of us would even think of asking you not to, but my question is why stop there?"

Kushina's fox ears twitched a bit wondering what the two talked about. She has heard both of them talk about their hardships in Konoha and each passing day they got closer to each other. "Go on"

"Namikaze is the center of all this, but he's not the only guilty one here. The clans supported him, they encouraged him, they knew full well what was going on and what he wanted for me. And they helped him make it happen. Not only that, they encouraged everyone else to act against me or use me. No one there stood up to them on my behalf. No one said 'Hey, this kid doesn't deserve to be treated as the cancer of Konoha.' It's pathetic how only 5% of the village knew what was going on and 90% remaining just went along with it while 5% at best stood up for me. You ask me, ALL but 5% of Konoha is guilty here." Naruto replied.

Hinata nodded, understanding his view perfectly. "The leaders of Konoha hate Naruto-kun because Namikaze told them to, nothing more. The shinobi of Konoha hate Naruto-kun because the clan heads tell them to, and the civilians of Konoha hate Naruto-kun because they see the ninja hate him and think one fact is all they need to know about him. Those our age hate him because their parents do or because he's not popular. The merchants hate him because they don't want to lose business with others, and those that do sell to him are trying to set him up or have to skirt around the leaders to actually help him. So much thoughtless needless hatred, they cannot be allowed to get away with it."

Kushina slowly nodded, seeing that so many in Konoha did something to Naruto. They all followed their leader thinking they knew best for them and everyone else. They didn't want to think about what is right and wrong. They all assumed if everyone did this to him it _has_ to be right no matter what. Of course according to the files Sarutobi did mention that there were people that didn't do as told, but the only names given were those he had punished for it.

"So you want to get a pound of flesh from Konoha too, not just Namikaze?" The two teens nodded, and Kushina grinned liking how the two think. "Well then, you came to the right person. Y'see, while my family was trying to see who our allies were, I was also keeping an eye out for our enemies. And thanks to that, I know the weaknesses of all of Konoha's clan's fighting styles."

"Even that of the Hyuuga?" Hinata asked, curiously.

Kushina nodded, but before she could say anything a scent caught her attention. "Yes, but I'll have to save that discussion for later. Right now we have company."

The former humans went outside their new home and saw nine humans walking up to them. Shiawase and Nasake were the one ones recognized. One particular person stood out the most. He was a fairly tall and lean man, who had long orange hair that almost matched Naruto's old jumpsuit but was a bit darker in hue with red eyes that were much brighter than Kushina's hair. He also wore a regal long-sleeved red kimono that looked like it was made of fur, even the black obi, with a hakama bottom and old-fashioned boots.

Kushina immediately felt a sense of familiarity with this person, which was only reinforced when she counted his tails. "Kurama?"

One of the others in the group got angry. "How dare you refer to Kyuubi-sama in such a-!" He was cut off by the central man lifting up his hand making him nervous by the glare he sent him.

"Uzumaki Kushina and her kit have my permission to refer to me in whatever manner they choose. And yes Kushina, I am Kurama." With a fox grin he looked at everyone.

'Wow, he's... hot.' Kushina thought, surprising herself while a blush slowly appeared on her face while Hinata elbowed Naruto getting his attention.

'Huh? Mom's face is red?' Naruto thought, not expecting that reaction from her.

Hinata just smirked at the sight, knowing better than anyone what that meant.

"I'm here to inform you that because of your transformations into hanyous, we are going to be taking a strong interest in your sage training." Kyuubi told them. "However, before we go into detail, there is an issue we must discuss. You see, Kushina here is not listed as a fox summoner and initially has no right to be here in Shobikou. However, because of her hanyou status, that can be overlooked, but if she ever returns to the human realm, she cannot come back to Shobikou until she signs the contract. Nor can she partake in the sage training without that."

Kushina thought it over for a moment. "I understand, though I'd like to think it over before I decide to sign any contract."

Kyuubi nodded then focused on Naruto and Hinata. "You two can continue sage training, but we will modify it a bit for your circumstances. Since you should be able to leave Kuo, we want to see if that affects your rate of training in case future hanyous attempt it."

"Are we the first hanyous to try?" Hinata asked.

Kyuubi nodded. "Hanyous weren't exactly liked in the past, and of course they aren't exactly favored today either. So yes, you will be the first offered this privilege. It will be sort of like a trial run."

"Are you hoping to achieve something?" Kushina asked.

"I hope they succeed and in half the time Mito did." Kyuubi said with a smile.

Naruto smiled and pumped his fist. "Well then, let's get started."

"You really think they can accomplish this Kyuubi-sama?" One of the human-form foxes asked. "What if they can't complete the training?"

"We can only hope they can." Kyuubi answered simply.

(AN: Kyuubi's words are only going to be bold when he's in demon form.)

* * *

"Thank you for the report. You may go now." Sarutobi said to the visiting toad, who had told him what Minato said. The toad nodded and disappeared back to Myoboku, and the Sandaime leaned back in his chair, smoking on his pipe. 'At least Minato's not holding us responsible, not enough to do anything about it anyway. But we better be on guard in case he decides we're a liability to him soon. I don't want another massacre on my hands'

Eyeing his desk, he sighed. 'I should probably add this to the log so we can ensure no repeats in the future.' He opened the drawer with his portfolio and pulled it out, opening it to the most recent page and started to write in it the recent development and his thoughts on it.

Luckily for Naruto Sarutobi had fallen for his trap. Kyuubi instructed his host to leave a decoy so the hokage wouldn't immediately realize what was going on here. So Naruto got an empty file and blank papers, and was instructed by Kyuubi to leave a seal on it. This seal was a genjutsu Kyuubi cast through Naruto to trick Sarutobi into seeing what he expected to see, thus sparing Naruto the hassle of rewriting the entire thing in handwriting that Sarutobi would recognize as not his own. As long as the old man didn't look at it long and carefully, he'd never know Naruto had the real thing.

And so the old man wrote away how Naruto and Hinata vanished, unaware what he was writing was the only genuine entry now in his log. How the old get senile with age and grow bitter with power.

* * *

Time seemed to fly by for the young ninja, though it was only a month or so. During that time they both completed water-walking, and Naruto's taijutsu and ninjutsu skills more than doubled, soared practically. As expected he was a terrific student once he actually had a teacher who did their job the right way. Hinata did great too, her skills while not terrible were sharpened rather than dramatically increased. Though her ninjutsu was added to thanks to Kushina's advice about not being limited to just juuken. This also helped increase her chakra reserves further, which were already tripled thanks to her transformation, making hers about three-fourths as large as Naruto's currently were. Thankfully that was large enough to at least start sage training.

The first part of training was learning what exactly the sage arts were. Luckily Kyuubi was there to explain.

"Sage arts, or senjutsu, is different than ninjutsu, that's something you must grasp before you actually start. Ninjutsu works by using the energy inside you, while senjutsu uses the energy around you instead."

"Energy around us?" Naruto asked. "You mean not chakra?"

"Not quite. You see, the earth generates it's own type of natural chakra. Senjutsu allows you to draw this type of energy into yourself and merge it with your own chakra, giving you a newer, stronger type of chakra. With this, all your ninjutsu, genjutsu, even taijutsu become enhanced, and new methods become available to you as well. These are senjutsu, methods based on or strengthened by sage chakra."

Hinata nodded in understanding, then saw Naruto was still trying to grasp it. "Think of how ramen tastes better when you've got more than just broth and noodles. This energy is like an extra ingredient to enrich the flavor."

He smiled. "Oh, I get it."

Kyuubi smiled but also chuckled at her explantion to Naruto. "Not only that, but it's completely undetectable except to others trained to sense natural chakra. Even the best sensors can't feel it unless they've been trained too, and I can't imagine any in the world actually are. The only actual threat to you in that case is another sage, like Namikaze's sensei. And not only that, it's completely uncopyable, even with a sharingan. You can't copy what you can't perceive after all."

"So how do we learn to use it then?" Naruto asked.

"Simple. You must become a part of nature." The fox demon answered, like it was more easy then walking.

"What?" Naruto asked.

"How?" Hinata asked at the same time.

"You must learn to feel the energy around you and take it into yourself. Once you can do that, you must balance it with the energy already inside you. Once you do that, you can do anything with your new sage chakra. Using it is easy, learning how to acquire it is hard. And to learn how to feel the energy, you must do one thing." He paused for dramatic effect then pointed right at them both. "Be in motion."

"Huh?" Both responded, confused.

"To be a fox sage, you must learn to do what a fox does best, stay in motion." Kyuubi told them. "A moving fox will always get what it wants when it thinks quick on its feet. The prey it hunts or an escape from its pursuers. They use the enviroment around them as a weapon making them cunning and clever. That's why we always tell you to look around your environment, so you can use it. A fox is most in tune with nature when it moves, for when it moves it flows with the energy of nature itself, feeling everything underneath their paws. A new sense, a thrill all around you, and predators always know better than to corner an animal like a fox. We have a tendency to show our teeth. But a fox on the run never stops until it gets what it's after. So to feel natural energy like a fox, you must always be moving. Always be cunning and clever, know what you can do next to use your enviroment around you."

With the two young hanyous listening to Kyuubi speak they turned to each other wondering what he all meant. "You mean just plain exercising right? Like just running?" Naruto asked.

Kyuubi shook his head thinking it's going to be harder to clarify this. "Not even close. If exercise was all it took then anyone could feel natural energy. In fact, a toad sage learns to feel chakra without even moving at all, because toads are most at nature when they remain still. Not the case for foxes, we need to be on the move. And move until we aren't even thinking, just reacting and letting nature and instinct guide us in place of thought. Only then will you feel the natural energy and learn to draw it into yourself like a fox sage would. You must trust your gut and do what feels right, like protecting someone very close to you."

Kyuubi stared at Naruto hoping he would understand its meaning. But fate wasn't on his side today or probably hasn't been for some time.

"So we just keep exercising until we feel some strange tingle or something?"

Kyuubi shook his head again. "I'll explain this one more time. Think of this as a sort of fast-paced meditation, with clarity of mind being the goal, like normal meditation. You move continuously until you no longer think about what you're doing. Until you no longer have time to think about it. No longer have time to analyze and plan out, just act and react and not stop until you get what you're after. That is the mindset of a fox with a goal, and only when you reach that will you be able to sense natural energy and draw it into yourself like a fox sage would."

Hinata's ear perked. "Kind of like when a Hyuga uses the juuken. They don't think about each and every strike, they just strike and block relying on experience and what they manage to see to guide them more than conscious thought. And eventually it comes naturally to them over time."

"Exactly." Kyuubi told her with a satisfied grin.

Naruto nodded but still looked bothered. "I get it now, but you still make it sound so easy."

"If it's so easy, then get exercising and try not to stop even when you're tired. Then we'll see how easy it is." Kyuubi stated with a foxy grin.

* * *

Kyuubi came back days later to see Naruto and Hinata panting and sweating heavily, but still exercising. They hadn't been moving nonstop for days on end, but they were serious about trying to learn senjutsu and had to overcome this hurdle.

"They sure are diligent." He told Kushina as the two watched from the side.

"That they are. So far the only times I've seen them resting is when they sleep or pass out near each other, which I wish I had a camera for since it looks so cute. But on the plus side Hinata's not fainting anymore."

"Good." Kyuubi said before stepping up to them. "Okay you two, take a rest for a moment."

"But we're not done yet." Naruto complained.

"You're not going to suddenly sense natural energy in the next minute so go ahead and stop." He told them.

Hinata collapsed and tried to calm her deep breathing. Naruto was reluctant to stop but he did and even helped Hinata sit up. Too tired to stay up, she leaned against him. He didn't mind, in fact he took a deep breath of her scent and smiled.

"The good news is you're now used enough to your hanyou bodies to feel comfortable fighting in them, and your stamina and determination are great too. The bad news is you two aren't quite grasping the type of motion needed to accomplish the first step." Kyuubi told them.

Naruto frowned. "What do you mean? We've been busting our asses doing this! And NOW you tell us we've been doing it wrong? Just tell us what to do to get it right for crying out loud!"

Kyuubi sighed and started to rub his temples a bit while looking at Kushina for some support. 'Wait until they get older, then it's going to be downhill.'

Looking back at the two. "Part of the problem is you don't know what you're supposed to be sensing. That's the part we will address first." Kyuubi answered. "I naturally have the ability to manipulate natural energy as if it were my own chakra. This is why we bijuu are often regarded as creatures with limitless chakra. We aren't, we just have access to a second source as large as the earth and atmosphere itself. What I will do... is this!"

He then extended his hands and around Naruto and Hinata emerged a dome of light blue energy. Both were shocked but didn't move, as their skin tingled and they felt a bit relaxed and recharged. After a few seconds, the dome disappeared.

"That was concentrated natural energy. I did that to give you an understanding of what contact with it feels like. Now you know what to feel for in your training and usage of senjutsu." Kyuubi told them, looking and sounding like he was out of breath.

"You okay Kurama?" Kushina asked.

"I'm fine. I must be a bit out of practice so it hit me harder than I thought. But that demonstration should help you two in becoming sages." He told Kushina then the two teens.

"Great. Let's get to it." Naruto said, apparently recharged despite his earlier exhaustion.

"Careful Naruto, there is a risk involved here." Kyuubi warned greatly with a stern look to the two. "If you can't control the absorption of the energy, you'll turn into full fox demons."

Naruto and Hinata blinked. "You mean... like we almost already did?" Hinata asked.

Kyuubi nodded. "The seals needed to overpower the seal on Naruto used natural energy, so naturally you two were exposed to it deeply, but with my chakra in your systems too it couldn't create a complete transformation. And unfortunately it's too late to reverse it. The best we can do is either let the change finish or keep you two as you are."

"But why did the energy change us in the first place?" Naruto asked.

Kushina hearing this raised an eyebrow and turned to Kyuubi. "It's like your chakra that affected my son when I was carrying him. That's why he has the whiskers marks after all."

"I'm glad. He looks very cute with them." Hinata commented, no shyness stopping her from saying that at least.

Kyuubi didn't think that was it. "Humans aren't meant to use natural energy like we bijuu are. When it gets into you, it overpowers your own chakra and greatly affects your body on a cellular and genetic level. From there, it turns you into an animal, usually the animal most prominent in the area providing the natural energy. For example, here in Shobikou you'd become a fox while in Myoboku you'd become a toad and in Ryuchi you'd become a snake."

"Then how can we use it?" Hinata asked.

"You balance it out." Kyuubi explained. "Your chakra is made of two parts, physical and spiritual energy." He drew a circle in the dirt and cut it in half. "Like this. To use senjutsu, you must add natural energy until it's more like this." He drew a second circle divided into thirds. "Unless it's like this for you, senjutsu is impossible for you or anyone. My chakra is almost always like this when I'm not sealed, so it's as natural to me as breathing."

"Sounds doable." Naruto said.

"Again Naruto, not that easy. Balancing these three energies is very difficult. If you absorb too little natural energy, you can't use senjutsu and all your other skills are thrown off. If you absorb too much, you'll become a fox demon. That's the most likely outcome. Uzumaki Mito and Uchiha Madara were the only ones to succeed in this training, all other became permanent residents of Shobikou. Some of them even have descendants here."

"Kyuubi-sama?" called Hinata. "Is it a bad thing for us if we change completely? I ask only because you sound against the idea and I'd like to know why we should avoid it while we still can."

"I suppose in time it wouldn't matter. It shouldn't change your personalities if that's what you think. But it will affect your ability to return to the human realm." Kyuubi told them. "Even though you two are now hanyous, you still qualify as fox summoners and have the right to be in the human world anytime you want. But if you become full foxes like me, then you stop being summoners and become summons, and summons cannot go to the human realm anytime they want. Except for bijuu like me of course."

"So for us to be able to do what we want, we have to stay this way for a while?" Naruto asked. Kyuubi nodded. "That works I guess. Anything else or can we get back to training?"

"Back to training. I'll supervise from now on with Kushina."

Which made Kushina blush a bit more while Kyuubi looked confused by her actions.

* * *

Now that the two knew what to sense for, training became a breeze for them. At least compared to what it had been before. And not only that, they were introduced to fox style taijutsu, which both excelled in like they were born to use it. It worked terrifically with Hinata's flexibility and Naruto's brawling nature. Hinata saw no immediate way to incorporate the juuken with it, but Naruto assured her she'd find a way.

After another long day of training the two walked up to their house, and were surprised to see Kyuubi and Kushina kissing each other. Actual kissing, but not quite full blown making out. Naruto and Hinata watched in shock, feeling like kids that just walked in on their parents having a private moment.

Which in Naruto's case he practically was right then.

Kyuubi was the first to hear them approve and broke the kiss. And right then he pretty much ruined his reputation by blushing nervously. "Hi kits. I thought you were still training." Embarrassed as well, Kushina just hid her face from her son.

"We were, but we're still not getting it." Naruto said.

"You've only been training for a few months. It took Mito a year to reach sage mode and she had years of experience as a kunoichi. So you shouldn't expect to get it within a few weeks." Kyuubi said.

"Though you do bring up a good point Kurama-kun." Kushina pointed out.

'Kurama-kun?' Naruto and Hinata asked themselves.

"What do you mean?" Kyuubi asked.

"Mito-sama had years of prior experience in being a ninja, but here we're subjecting kids who've gotten the barest of bare minimum training to training usually reserved for experts. Maybe what they really need is some actual field experience first."

Kyuubi put his hand on his chin and thought about it. "Hmm... you may be on to something. But how do they get it here?"

"They don't. You need to return to the human realm for a time." Kushina answered

"Why?" Hinata asked, feeling a bit uncertain about returning to a place where Konoha could find her and Naruto.

"Senjutsu is like any other ninja skill, you have to be a ninja to use it. As it is, you two are not yet ninja, just students." Kushina told them.

Naruto looked bothered by that claim. "You're wrong. We are ninja."

"You have no true experience, no honed reflexes, and very little muscle memory or chakra memory." Kushina calmly countered. "Son, I know you won't like hearing this, but the truth is you and Hinata are ninja in title only, not skill. Outrunning Anbu and vandalizing the village is impressive, but that's not enough to make you a real ninja."

"Then what does make someone a real ninja?" Naruto asked.

Kushina smiled. "That's something you're going to have to find out for yourself, through combat and experience and training. My answer may not be yours and your answer may not be Hinata's. But neither of you will get your answer until you go out into the world and learn the way all ninja do."

Kyuubi nodded. "That's a good idea, but where should they go?"

Both Naruto and Hinata wondered that too but neither had any ideas, as they weren't all to familiar with places outside Konoha. 'Probably to make it less likely for either of us to try and leave Konoha if we knew no other place to go.' Naruto rued.

"Not Konoha, or anywhere in Hi no Kuni. I'm thinking somewhere they don't even have a hidden village, but not some place where they have no one to fight." Kyuubi answered his own question.

"We're not fighting people just for the fun of it. If we do then we're no different than the people we escaped." Naruto declared, with Hinata nodding in agreement.

"No, but if you were to find people like outlaws or thugs, then it would be okay." Kyuubi told his most recent former container.

"Hey, why not Nami no Kuni? It should be safe but it sometimes attracts trouble of that sort, and it's fitting given that's where I first interacted with you Kurama-kun." Kushina offered.

"Sounds good to me." Kyuubi told Kushina. "As long as there are no shinobi around to bother them it should be a safe environment to test their abilities."

"And if there are shinobi there by chance?" Hinata asked.

"Summon me and I'll provide help. But only if you feel you can't take them on yourselves."

"Okay, but what about the kiss?" Naruto asked bluntly, making the two flinch while they regain their composure to think of something.

"We were just reminiscing old times and one thing lead to another." Kushina explained. She was hoping Naruto wouldn't say anything. 'But on the other hand he does act like me.'

"How does walking down memory lane get to-?" Naruto tried to ask.

"Well, you two should be on your way. I'll give you a head start. Reverse summon yourselves when you need to." Kyuubi cut in before putting his hands on them both and sending them away.

"Thanks. That was about to get embarrassing." Kushina told the fox demon.

"No sweat. Now, where were we in our discussion?" Kyuubi asked.

"I admit I'm flattered but this is something I need to get comfortable with first Kurama."

"Take your time. If there's one thing I learned after being trapped for so long, it's patience."

Which earned a giggle from Kushina knowing how true that is.

* * *

Smoke cleared and Naruto and Hinata looked around, seeing they were no longer in Kuo. They were in a forest but the air was a lot more humid and smelled of salt.

"Where are we?" Hinata asked.

"I think we're in that place Mom mentioned. Nami no Kuni." Naruto answered. "Well, as long as we're here, we might as well see what we could do."

"Actually Naruto-kun..." Hinata started up. "Technically this is the first time we've ever been along together. Even Kyuubi-sensei isn't here. Why don't we try enjoying our privacy first? He never said we had to return today did he?"

Naruto thought it over and smiled. "That sounds great. Let's do it Hinata-chan."

The pale-eyed girl smiled. "But let's not look half-fox first."

"Good idea. Good thing we learned that one quickly." Naruto said before performing a henge to look like his original self.

Hinata smiled. "Um... Naruto-kun, maybe you should try a different look. There is a chance Konoha shinobi could spot us here, and even if they don't, people who live here might tell them about us."

"Good idea again Hinata-chan. What would I do without you?"

"I don't want to know. I just want to know what you will do _with_ me." She told him playfully. Ever since the transformation Hinata's new vulpine side was affecting her behavior with Naruto. No longer shy, but still reasonably bashful and coy, she was for all basic purposes a normal girl.

Naruto came right beside her and put his left arm across her shoulders, holding her close to him. "I just want to enjoy some well-earned alone time with my best friend."

Hinata smiled but didn't blush. "Thank you Naruto-kun."

* * *

Henged differently to disguise themselves, the two walked to the nearest town to relax before more training. Naruto had red hair without whisker marks and wore a black shirt and shorts while Hinata had red hair and blue eyes and wore a dark purple blouse and skirt. She no longer felt so self-conscious about her body now that she knew Naruto found her attractive and he would defend her if others got too interested for their own good.

They had both been in a good mood... until they saw the town that is.

"Is this the slums?" Hinata asked, noting the dilapidated buildings, boarded up windows, litter on the streets, and occasional rodent in broad daylight.

"I got a bad feeling here. We should go to another part of town." Naruto told her. This reminded him too much of where he had to live in Konoha. It looked neglected and unsafe to be in after dark yet you felt like someone was watching you.

Hinata offered no objection and the two just hurried through the district.

As they hurried, they saw more signs of neglect, vandalism, and downright abandonment. And in one alleyway they could have sworn they saw a dead body, but neither were in the mood to confirm it.

They just hurried faster.

"What is this place?" Hinata asked.

"I don't know, but something tells me we've got more to worry about than our training here." Naruto replied.

* * *

When night came neither of the fox hanyous had acquired any explanation for why the town was in such bad shape. No resident would talk to them, they just ran and hid as if being seen was a crime.

"Something is going on here." Hinata commented. "A bad economy is one thing, but the actions of the inhabitants tells me this isn't just a lack of proper living conditions. Something or someone is trying to destroy their spirits and has all but succeeded."

Naruto nodded, all too familiar with that situation. He recognized the signs that pointed out these people weren't cowardly, but doing the only thing that kept them alive this long. "I know we didn't come here for this, but we have to do something about it. If we don't, we're no better than the people we ran from."

Hinata nodded. "Problem is how do we identify the source of the problem."

"We came here to prove ourselves as ninja right? Maybe we should act like ones."

* * *

An hour later, a group of people were gathered in what was quite possibly the only stocked bar in the city. Stocked and running mostly because the thugs dominating the city wanted a place to have fun, so they left it alone. Most of the natives avoided it because the thugs when intoxicated might turn on them all that much sooner, but those that had lost all hope weren't afraid to come here and drown themselves in liquor.

"I can't wait until these goons leave." The bartender commented to one of his regulars while some aforementioned goons were being rowdy in the back of the tavern.

The regular scoffed. "Face it Mo-san, they're never leaving. As long as there's something here for that Gato to take, they're staying."

"Excuse me." A newcomer said. "Sorry, but my wife and I are new to the area. Can you tell me what's become of Nami no Kuni?"

The natives looked them over, checking for anything out of the ordinary. At first glance they were just a black-haired man and brown-haired woman in their twenties wearing identical black shirts. Nothing too peculiar, but Nami residents were anything but hospitable at the time.

"Have you been living under a rock?" The bartender asked.

The man shook his head. "No. We've actually been traveling a lot for the past few years and decided to come here. Looks like we came at a bad time though. I'm Kuramamaru."

"And I'm Hinako." His wife added.

The customer of the bar shook his head sadly. "I don't know how you two got here, but my advice is get back to the mainland and get as far away from here as possible. We don't need tourists, we need someone who can fight. Like ninjas."

Kuramamaru and Hinako grinned. "What if I were to say we were just that?" Kuramamaru whispered.

"I'd say what are you doing here?" The customer whispered back, intrigued.

"Tell us your names and we'll tell you more."

"I'm Giichi." The customer replied.

"And I'm Moshiro, but people call me Mo for short." The bartender, intrigued as well, added. "Can you help us?"

"That depends on what you need help with." Hinako replied.

"It started when a man named Gato came to Nami no Kuni about a year ago." Mo started, keeping sure that the goons in the bar weren't paying attention since he is looking at them from a distance. "He bought our main harbor that connects us to the mainland. At first he just renovated it and improved it. Better boats, better docks, roads to and around it were in better shape, but he charged an awful lot for anyone to use them. We travel and trade by sea so this hurt us a bit."

"We had other harbors, but they all 'conveniently' went out of business or had accidents. In no time Gato was in charge of our only connection to any other country, isolating us economically. Whenever anything comes into the country, Gato takes a percentage for himself saying it's his legal right to, and when we tried to send anything out he'd do the same. After a while we lost foreign business from clients saying we were trying to rip them off and we almost lost all trade and business anywhere."

"Why haven't your Daimyo done anything about this? Surely he would hate for this to happen." Hinako asked.

"We've tried, but he keeps telling us Gato hasn't done anything illegal so we can't make any move against him." Giichi claimed.

Kuramamaru frowned, thinking something else. "Something doesn't have to be illegal to be wrong."

Hinako nodded. "It sounds to me like your Daimyo is being paid to not get involved."

Giichi nodded. "That's what I suspect. But the thing is this all didn't get this bad until that family tried acting against Gato personally."

"Now Giichi-san-" Mo tried to say, but was cut off.

"Oh you know I have a point Mo-san. That man Kaiza pretty much painted a giant bulls-eye on himself when he defied Gato and that was when Gato decided to become cruel instead of just greedy." Shivering from the memory he looks at the two with a serious expression. "After that public display, he moved in on our living standards directly and taxed us left and right. Just imagine how much worse he'll be after he gets rid of Tazuna-san."

"What do you mean?" Kuramamaru asked.

"Oh there's this family that's trying to make things better but are really just making things worse. One guy named Kaiza saved us by fixing a busted dam but Gato didn't like that and executed him in public view. Then to make sure we didn't do anything he intruded in our lives. Now his father-in-law Tazuna's trying to defy Gato by building a bridge so we don't need to use the harbors for international business. When Gato acts this time, he's going to bleed us all even further. At this point our only chance of survival is to get rid of Tazuna-san ourselves."

"What will that do?" Hinako asked.

"Maybe Gato will go easy on us again if he doesn't see us as a threat." Giichi answered.

"Maybe?" Kuramamaru asked, not liking the sound of that.

"You're ninja right? Would you at least consider it?"

"I wouldn't if I were you. Gato's the one who should be removed, not Tazuna." Mo warned.

Kuramamaru and Hinako shared a look then looked back at the two. "Personally, it does sound like Gato is the one most deserving of removal." Hinako responded.

"Most deserving definitely, but Tazuna-san's the easier of the two to remove." Giichi mentioned. "Are you saying you two could get rid of Gato if you had to?"

"Maybe, but why don't you guys band together and try something yourself?" Kuramamaru asked.

"It's not that easy." Giichi countered.

"Why? Do you not know where Gato lives?" Hinako asked.

"We do but it's heavily guarded at all hours."

"Well enough that if you gathered everyone who wants this guy to leave and can use something as a weapon that you wouldn't be able to make a dent in it?"

"I don't like the odds." Giichi stated.

"Coward." Kuramamaru stated.

Giichi got mad. "What did you call me?"

"You're a coward. Instead of standing up for yourself you prefer complaining about how unfair your situation is. And instead of taking a stand against the one who deserves your hatred, you aim it at someone who can't defend himself from it."

Hinako nodded. "Don't ask us to fight your battle for you. Or to go after the undeserving."

"Well maybe I should inform those guys over there about you." Giichi pointed his thumb at the partying goons who were unaware of the conversation. Instead they are all into their drinking. "Then what would you do?"

"Defend ourselves. Which is more than we can say about you." Hinako said before standing up.

Kuramamaru followed her lead and the two vacated the premises without a glance back.

Mo waited until after they left the bar to speak again. "Something tells me something's going to happen soon, and we'll have those two to thank for it, or curse for it."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

There was a knock at the door, making Tsunami stop washing the dishes. "Who would be coming here at this hour?" She opened the door to see two red-haired children, one boy and one girl, that looked twelve. "I'm sorry but we don't have any food to give out. Really, I'm sorry."

"Umm... we're not here for food." The boy told her.

"Oh, then are you sent here to assist the Konoha nin my father brought here?"

The young visitors stiffened. "You have Konoha shinobi here?"

"So you're not affiliated with them? Then why exactly are you here?" Tsunami asked.

"We heard a few things about a man named Tazuna and we wanted to talk to him." The girl told her.

"Can't this wait until morning?"

"I suppose so. Sorry to bother you ma'am." The boy said then bowed, with the girl following, and then they both left.

"Who was that?" Tazuna asked as he came up to his daughter, too late to have seen or heard anything.

"Just two children who wanted to ask you a thing or two."

"I could go find them and see what they want. They couldn't have gotten far."

"No need Otou-san, they'll come back tomorrow. Just wait until then."

Tazuna smiled a bit at that. "Good, then they aren't threats to us then".

"I hope not, but nowadays you can never be so sure." Tsunami said. "After everything Gato has done you can't be too trusting of anyone anymore."

* * *

The next day Tazuna was working at his bridge getting his fellow workers going on the construction. He had one genin with him as a bodyguard, a pink-haired girl named Haruno Sakura who wanted to be somewhere else.

Giichi saw the old man and recalled everything he had said the other night, then stood up straight and walked over to Tazuna. "Sir, I'm sorry, but I'm not going to keep putting myself and my family at risk for this." Thinking of his family he knows Tazuna is doing what is best for his but yet danger is lurking in just working for him and Giichi just ran out of conviction.

Tazuna was noticeably unhappy but nodded. "If you're too afraid then that's your business. But we'll never be free of Gato unless we do something about it."

"Face it Tazuna, Gato's not going anywhere until he's dead, and judging from this little girl it looks like you didn't bother getting ninja that could kill him for us. You're more likely to die than he is, and once you do, I just pray the rest of us don't go down with you like we almost did with Kaiza."

If Tazuna was unhappy before, he was pissed now. Hearing that name he narrowed his eyes. "Don't you dare talk about Kaiza that way. Now, if you're not going to work, get out of my sight."

Giichi walked off without a second thought but sighed thinking he went too far. 'I'm probably overreacting, but after last night I can't shake this feeling that this bridge is the last place I want to be.'

"Things sure are rough here." Sakura commented.

"You have no idea." Tazuna replied, trying to get back to work to clear his mind. He saw one of his workers returning from a lunch break approaching him, and with Giichi's resignation fresh in mind he wasn't too enthusiastic about what this might result in. "Yeah?"

"Boss, there's a kid requesting two minutes with you. She says she just wants to hear you tell her your goal."

Tazuna nodded 'Probably a frightened child wanting a reminder or hope.' Tazuna thought. 'But it could be a ploy to lower my guard and get me alone.' He turned to Sakura. "Go check this out first, just to ensure no one's around that can do anything bad."

"What? What am I supposed to do if someone attacks?" Sakura objected.

"Don't they train ninja to defend themselves anymore?" Tazuna asked, wondering why his bodyguard is afraid to actually do her job. It's not a very reassuring situation where the client has to go in first instead of the shinobi. If anything that's grounds for a refund.

"I'm not supposed to need to defend myself. Sasuke-kun's supposed to protect me and if he's not here I'm not going to risk myself for anything." She said firmly, leaving no room for argument with her arms folded.

"Last time I checked, you were hired to be a protector, not a damsel in distress. Now do your job." Tazuna ordered.

Sakura clearly didn't want to, but she was smart enough to know she couldn't get away with ignoring the client instead. So she left mostly to prevent herself from being told again. "Where's this kid?" She tapped her foot on the ground waiting to be told where to go.

The construction worker led her away from the bridge to the town, where a girl was sitting on a crate waiting. The girl, who had brown hair and a plain green dress, looked towards the approachers, and Sakura could swear she saw a look of hatred on her for a moment.

"I'm sorry but the boss is busy. Could you leave a message or something?" The construction worker told her.

The girl got off the crate and looked at Sakura measuring her, then turned to the worker with a sweet smile. "Just tell him I hope he succeeds in helping everyone who lives here. I heard he'll make this country a great place to live again, and I can only hope I wasn't lied to." She then walked away passing Sakura with another hated look.

"That was weird." The construction worker stated, then glanced to Sakura. "Could you follow her to make sure she doesn't do anything that could be dangerous to us?"

While not eager to venture out on her own, Sakura was curious about this girl and nodded. She trailed behind the girl as she walked down the streets, hiding behind building corners trying to observe all this girl did or where she went.

Suddenly the girl stopped. "You should have worked on your stealth more... Leaf nin." There was a bit of undisguised bitterness in her voice.

Sakura stepped out of hiding with a smile on her face thinking she did just fine. "Took you this long to notice I was following you."

The girl shook her head but continued to only show Sakura her back. "Wrong. I just didn't want you to follow me anymore. In fact I overheard the worker telling you to follow me. Plus your pink hair is very noticeable."

Sakura glared at her back wondering who she is. "Could you at least look at me when you talk?"

The girl turned while her body language showed hostility. "I have nothing to say to you so I'm not wasting my time on you." She then turned away and walked a bit faster.

Sakura didn't like this and naturally disliked not having the last word in a fight. Chasing after the girl she soon got in front of her. "I don't know who you are, but I don't like this attitude you're pulling with me."

"Then you better let me leave because I'm not giving you any other." The girl said.

Sakura stomped her feet on the ground not backing down."You can't treat me like this. You don't even know me."

"Oh but I do, and I know you don't believe you need to know a person to be rude to them. Or have you forgotten a certain someone already?"

"What?" Sakura asked, completely clueless to that.

Instead of answering, the girl dove down an alleyway and ran. Sakura tried to follow her but after turning a corner all she saw was a bag of trash. Blinking she looked around and back to the alley she came from then back to the trash bags "Where did she go? She couldn't have been a ninja, could she?"

* * *

Kakashi was in the forest around Tazuna's house observing the progress of one of his students, the greatly acclaimed Uchiha Sasuke. Kakashi was smart enough to separate the hype from the truth about the last Uchiha, but he did believe this boy was destined for greatness like no other of his generation.

If he could learn to not be so easily jealous of others that is.

'It was bad enough when Sakura so easily got tree-walking down, but to find out Sai already knew it... Sasuke's still not taking it well.' The jonin thought, watching this prized student work on learning how to run up a tree with just chakra like a man possessed. 'His anger at being the only one in the group unable to do it on the first try is affecting his control. Right now he's just wasting chakra and damaging the tree.'

But since Kakashi was only able to stand with crutches, he didn't dare stand up to his able-bodied student. Jounin or not, there was only so much he could do until he recovered from fighting Zabuza. Watching Sasuke's behavior he made a mental memo to make sure Sasuke always knows more then the others so a problem like this won't happen again.

'At least I don't have to deal with that boy. I'd probably be dead if he was here as planned and got involved in the fight against Zabuza.' Kakashi told himself, bitterly remembering Naruto and the fact Sarutobi originally planned to put him on Kakashi's team because he was the one best suited for keeping him suppressed or killing him if he went too far.

Kakashi knew Naruto was his sensei's progeny, but he could care more for the trash in Kumo then he could for Naruto. Why? Because Minato didn't care about Naruto either, and if Minato didn't care than Kakashi didn't either. The fact that his sensei was being heartless to his own son meant nothing to the cycloptic jounin. What his sensei said is law to him, if Minato said 'jump' Kakashi didn't say 'how high?' he just jumped.

Sasuke fell off the tree and groaned again as he got up. But this time he tensed up a bit, looked to his right, and threw the kunai he had been measuring his progress with.

"Sasuke?" Kakashi asked, raising an eyebrow wondering what was the point of that action.

The aforementioned genin got up and went into the bushes, seeing nothing but his discarded kunai which he picked up. "Thought I sensed something for a moment." He went back to the tree.

If he had bothered to look closer, he might have seen a rock on the ground that had a knick on it.

* * *

"Did you see anything?" Naruto asked Hinata when they reconvened in private.

"Sadly yes. That bitch Sakura is here and doesn't seem to be taking this job seriously."

"Ooh, that had to be hard for you." He took her sympathetically. "I saw that teme Sasuke here too and if it weren't for a quick substitution he might have gotten me."

"Oh this is just great." She groaned.

Over the past few months together, Naruto and Hinata did learn a lot about each other. One of the things Naruto learned was that Hinata did not like Sakura at all. In fact, Sakura was to Hinata what Sasuke was to him. Each had their reasons for disliking these two former classmates though and had explained them to the other. Although Hinata was reluctant to admit her reasons because Naruto did used to be infatuated with Sakura, he promised he would not judge her for having a personal opinion. Besides, one of the entries in the Sandaime's log mentioned Sakura and it really impacted Naruto to read it.

Hinata disliked Sakura because of her absolute disregard for any of Naruto's well-being, be it physical, emotional, or even social. The pinkette seemed convinced that the only thing Naruto was allowed to feel was misery even when she was in a good mood. And no matter how much she said she hated his affections, she knowingly strung him along for the sake of keeping her punching bag around and unwilling to retaliate. Hinata was also convinced that even though Sakura despised Naruto's choice of actions and words, if Sasuke had behaved the exact same way Naruto did, Sakura would not have hated him for it but likely would have lost her virginity by now.

Naruto disliked Sasuke because of a sense of entitled jealous. At first he thought he and Sasuke had a lot in common and could be great friends. After all, they both were orphans, they both struggled in the Academy in the beginning, and neither had any real friends at that point. But Sasuke ruined that, and he wasn't the only one. The adults of the village who went out of their way to torment Naruto also went out of their way to lavish Sasuke with gifts and love galore. Teachers ensured the Uchiha succeeded and the Uzumaki failed, shopkeepers gave the emo free things by the basketful while the only things they gave the blonde without overcharging him for it were rocks and broken glass, and worst of all, the very kids that told Naruto to burn in hell when he actually tried to be nice to them could not get enough of Sasuke now that he had a 'piss off' attitude to them all.

So to see them both here struck a nerve with these two.

"In a way, this could be a good thing." Naruto mentioned.

"How so?"

"We did come here to see how strong we've gotten. What better way to prove it than by beating those two in their mission? The so-called genius's of our class fail to the outcasts?" Naruto grinned.

Hinata smiled like a fox, loving the idea of getting back at Sakura for all those years of beating Naruto. "Now this is part of why I like you so much Naruto-kun. But how do we do that without them finding out who we are?"

The grin that Naruto gave her got wider "That shouldn't be hard. We at least take being a ninja seriously."

* * *

"Remember Zabuza, kill the bridge builder and his body guards." Gato told his henchmen.

"I know my assignment you dwarf. I haven't forgotten that in the past week." The former Kiri nin said as he stretched his muscles, finally mobile after a week of bed rest. Now knowing what to do against Kakashi he looked at Haku who has helped him during his time of recovery.

"I told you the feeling wouldn't last past today." Haku told her master while she was still dressed as a Kiri hunter nin. She always had her mask on around Gato to make him think she was a boy so he wouldn't try something to her. Not that she couldn't defend herself, but it was bad business to assault your employer so she had to give him as little reason as possible to make him think about her.

"Well now that you can stand up again, I better see you succeed this time." Gato insisted forcefully.

"And I better get paid." Zabuza demanded.

Gato just smugly grinned. "I told you already you'd get the money after the job and no sooner."

"Excuse me boss." One of Gato's employees said as he approached from behind the tycoon. "Two people showed up with a proposition for you."

"Not interested."

"They claim to be ninjas and they want to work for you."

Now Gato got curious. But also Zabuza raised an eyebrow wondering where did these ninjas come from. "Did they say why?" Gato asked.

"I asked but they said that answer was for your ears only."

Gato couldn't help but be intrigued. "Sounds suspicious, so Zabuza, you and your apprentice hide in waiting in case they make any moves."

Gato went to his office and sat down at his desk on an embroidered chair to help his image to his guests. He hoped it would make him look domineering as well as hide his short stature. Zabuza and Haku in the meantime went into the shadows of the room, henged for extra concealment. "Send them in."

The employee came back with two complete strangers then left. At first glance they looked like normal adult civilians, but Gato knew enough about ninja to know that they didn't usually go around wearing 'Look at me I'm a shinobi' style attire. 'There are no headbands, no weapons, no bulges in their clothes except for the very nice chest on the girl. So what is their game here?'

"Hello, are you the tycoon Gato?" The man asked.

"I am, but are you indeed shinobi? You don't look like it."

"That's the best disguise for a ninja, is it not?" The woman asked.

"I suppose so, but I would like a demonstration so I know that speaking with you is worth my valuable time." The wealthy dwarf stated.

"Alright then." They both said.

The next thing Gato or anyone else knew there were two kunai in his eyes.

"Know any civilians that can throw that good?" The man asked.

Gato didn't hear him over his own screaming. On sheer reflex he grabbed the kunai and tried to remove them, only to pull his own eyes out of their sockets in the process, halted only by the still-connected optic nerves.

Zabuza and Haku then jumped out of the shadows to attack the attackers, but both of them dodged the former Kiri inhabitants with ease. "What are you two doing?" Zabuza asked.

"He wanted to see our skills. It's not our fault he didn't say how or what target to use." The woman said.

"You can't kill him." Zabuza said.

"Why not?" They both asked fearlessly.

"He hasn't paid us for our work yet." Haku answered.

"Is that the only reason you need him alive?" The man asked looking at both of them. "Do you agree with what he does to this country?" At that they saw the hunter nin flinch.

"Who are you to care?" Zabuza asked.

"I'm just a concerned guy who hates seeing people trampled on so one guy can feel important. Call me Kuramamaru by the way."

"I'm Hinako, and I'm the same way. Are you someone who supports a tyrant?" The woman added.

Zabuza quickly glanced at Gato who was trying to put his eyes back in place while calling out for help. Unfortunately, no one was coming. "I don't exactly like the midget either, but he's the one covering my expenses so I can't just let him die."

"What if that wasn't an issue?" Kuramamaru asked.

Haku tilted her head. "Meaning what?"

Kuramamaru went over to Gato and knocked him over then went thru his pockets, pulling everything he found out. Three interesting things he found were a set of keys, a little black book, and what looked like a key card, the kind you might find in some hotels to get into rooms. Without hesitation he threw these at Zabuza who caught them.

"There you go. One of those should give you access to whatever he keeps his money in. Take as much as you need."

Dumbfounded, Zabuza looked at the card then back to Kuramamaru. "Seriously? Just like that?" He looked at the two then back to Gato. "Just what do you get out of all this?" 'I can see that they don't like what Gato is doing to the country. Are they just here to eliminate him, not rob him?'

"We have no need for money in our lives right now. What we get here is the satisfaction of knowing this tyrant can't hurt anyone anymore. That and we don't have to fight you over this." Hinako said.

"Still, what exactly was your reason for coming here?" Zabuza pressed.

The smile that Kuramamaru showed to Zabuza made the demon of the mist interested to know. "We came here to do some training but this guy's greed is attracting ninja to this place that we don't want knowing we're here. So after learning what all he's been doing to the natives, we decided to do what they're too afraid to do and remove him." Kuramamaru answered.

"Building a bridge won't end the problem. Eliminating him would." Hinako added.

"Somebody kill this crazy people!" Gato yelled, trying to stop the blood flowing out of his eyes. He also tried to put the eyes back in his sockets while his brain is telling him he is seeing in two different directions like a chameleon.

"Yell all you want, no one will come. I've got clones by the hundreds taking out your goons here outside." Kuramamaru told him, pointing to the door with his thumb to show no one was coming.

Hinako nodded, her byakugan confirmed no one else was inside the building thanks to Naruto's distraction. "It's your own fault for preferring to hire cheap and in bulk rather than investing in quality help."

Haku turned to her mentor. "Should we help him before he bleeds to death?"

Zabuza looked at the stuff in his hands then to Gato then back to the stuff. "We have what we came here for. And he did keep deducting our pay for the last few jobs for things he didn't like. With this, we can have everything this guy's screwed us out of and maybe have enough for our goal back home. And we won't even have to go near the old bridge-builder for it."

"Pardon me, but I noticed you're from Kiri. And judging from that sword on your back, you're one of their Seven Swordsmen. Am I right?" Hinako inquired.

Zabuza's guard went back up when he heard this deduction. "Yes. Are you after the bounty on me?"

Hinako shook her head while Zabuza removed his hand from his blade's handle. "We're not strong enough to defeat you. Instead I wonder what you think of the Yondaime Mizukage. Are you a missing nin to get away from him?"

Zabuza narrowed his eyes on her seeing she touched on a hot topic. "What do you two know of the Mizukage?"

Kuramamaru smiled and unsealed the file he made sure to bring with him when Kyuubi sent him to Nami no Kuni. "More than you do, but agree to a ceasefire and we'll be happy to share everything with you."

"Are you on his side?" Haku asked, also feeling defensive.

Both former Konoha nin frowned. "Considering what side _he's_ on, no fucking way." Kuramamaru answered.

Zabuza had to admit he was curious after seeing what they had done to Gato but also from the implication of what they knew. "Let me see what you've got."

Kuramamaru smiled and turned to the page that had the relevant information. "You might want to sit down for this because this is going to be long."

Zabuza took the folder thinking he will be the judge of that, then he started to read the revealed page.

_Good news today, Minato is getting closer to our goal of Konoha being the only powerful village in the world. He has started by manipulating Kiri from the shadows, in a rather ingenious way I must admit. It turns out that Kiri in all their infinite wisdom, I say that sarcastically of course, actually allowed one of their jinchuuriki to become their kage. The fools. Jinchuuriki exist solely to fight and die in place of the ninja with real value, never to actually have authority over anyone._

_Minato did however see an advantage to this situation. It turns out that like the Kyuubi, this jinchuuriki is vulnerable to being manipulated by the sharingan. So now the Yondaime Hokage is controlling the Yondaime Mizukage, all thanks to the Uchiha donating some eyes._

_Using this golden opportunity, Minato is working to eliminate Kiri as a threat to our inevitable conquest of the world. Their greatest advantage is their location and terrain, making it virtually impossible to sneak into Mizu no Kuni without anyone from Kiri finding out about it before you can make your move. The only safe way to destroy the village is therefore from within. Minato is doing so by dividing Kiri against itself, using bloodlines as an excuse to make people hate each other, praying upon people's natural fear of what's different than themselves or what they consider normal. The idiots in Kiri took the bait completely and have now started a civil war. Even if Kiri manages to get out of this still as a hidden village, they will be too weakened to effectively be a threat, and with so many of their ninja now forced to be missing nin, other villages will be hard-pressed to take their side once the outlaws make themselves known in illegal ways. Even a good majority of their famous Seven Swordsmen have been forced to be on the lam thanks to Minato destroying their home. It makes me laugh to see one of the most talented villages turn out to have feet of clay._

_And if that wasn't enough, with the jinchuuriki Mizukage being the one to take the blame for all this, the world will lose even more trust in the other jinchuuriki out there. When Minato's group Akatsuki sets out to collect them, I foresee no less than two villages will happily hand over the jinchuuriki merely to save themselves if not all of them. And luckily Minato already has one to collect when he has to, not counting Naruto. I've not received word on the status of Kiri's second jinchuuriki but I presume Minato has plans for it as well. He always knows what he's doing._

Zabuza had to read that a second time to make sure he hadn't misread it. "Is this serious?"

Kuramamaru and Hinako nodded. "Very word of it."

"Where did you get this?" Zabuza demanded. He looked at the Hokage stamp on the portfolio confirming authenticity. He started to shake uncontrollably seeing that the Yondaime of Konoha is to blame for all this. His friends dying, his home being destroyed, because of one man and eyes from a certain clan that helped him.

"I sneaked into the Hokage tower and went through his desk. I had a feeling he was keeping something from me and I found that. I got my answers alright, and so much more." Kuramamaru answered bitterly.

Haku saw Gato crawling, trying to get to an alarm. Before he could trigger it, she appeared and did some one-hand hand signs. "Hyoton: Frostbite Jutsu." She touched his hands, and they quickly froze solid into ice. He yelled from the pain, and to ensure he could do nothing she broke off his frozen fingers. "Are we letting him live or not?" She asked.

"We already have what we wanted, it doesn't really matter as far as I'm concerned. We have bigger fish to fry." Zabuza said, still looking at the page.

"Please, please spare me. I'll give you anything, just don't kill me." Gato pleaded, crying into his blood.

"Tell us where you keep your money and how to access it. Then we won't kill you." Zabuza said.

"In a safe under my desk. The keys open it and the card disables the traps." Gato answered, hoping his pain will stop.

"That's everything?" Haku asked.

"Yes! Everything I have!"

"Okay then, thanks old man." Zabuza said, walking towards the desk.

"Wait, aren't you going to get me to a doctor?" Gato asked.

Both Kuramamaru and Hinako shook their heads while Zabuza smiled. "I don't recall that being part of the deal. Like all those times you cut my pay for stuff you didn't like." The swordsman said as he moved the desk, seeing a safe lock on the floor.

"Please, you can have every ryo in there if you want, just please take me to a hospital." Gato begged.

"What good would that do you?" Kuramamaru asked negatively. "You've robbed this country blind for months. People here can barely afford to feed themselves more than once a week thanks to you. Do you really think a single hospital around here is going to accept you as a patient? Especially when you made everything here dilapidated as hell and you yourself can't even pay for treatment?"

"It would be less cruel to just kill you here." Hinako added.

Testing the keys, Zabuza found one that fit and unlocked the safe. Before he opened it, he placed the key card into a visible slot, then opened it. To his relief nothing happened, and under the floor was a bunker filled with gold bars, bags of ryo bills and coins, stock market bonds, and even some precious gems and rolls of fine silks.

"Wow, the cash value of all this must be more than the Mizukage makes in a year." He commented before looking back at Kuramamaru and Hinako "Hey, how about we split it 50/50? That fair to you?" Since they helped him get this and also shared information on the Yondaime Mizukage, information any village would pay a fortune to get, he felt he wanted to stay in these two's good graces.

"Sure. We're just going to give it all back to the natives anyway." Hinako told him. "What are you going to do with your share?"

"Use it to help take down the Mizukage, though now I know he's not the only target and if it's really the Yellow Flash behind the whole ordeal, the rebels are going to really struggle."

"Will you help us?" Haku asked.

"Don't get us wrong, we'd love to stick it to Namikaze and take him off his high horse. But the problem is we're not strong enough yet to do much of anything. Konoha really stunted our training and we've only gotten a few months real training. At best we're just fresh genins, no real help." Kuramamaru replied.

"At your age?" Zabuza asked. "You're not really adults are you?"

Kuramamaru and Hinako nodded then dispelled their henges, but replacing them with new ones to look like their original human forms. "These are how we normally look. I'm Naruto and this is Hinata."

"Is that the rinnegan?" Zabuza asked. "Boy, please come with me to Kiri. You can help the rebels more than you think. So can your... 'wife' with her byakugan."

"I'm more his girlfriend then his wife for the time being, though if you want to keep calling me his wife I won't complain." Hinata told him, blushing when she saw Naruto look at her.

"Right now let's deal with him first." Naruto said also trying to stop the blushing. Pointing to Gato who was passed out on the floor now. "Should we throw him in the streets so the natives can kill him?"

"Actually, I've got a better idea." Zabuza said.

"Wait, you said you wouldn't kill me." The short tycoon said fearfully.

"That's right, we wouldn't kill you." The swordsman told him.

"Then what are you going to do?"

After the safe had been emptied, Zabuza gave his answer. "We'll keep you somewhere _safe_." He then kicked the greedy man into the empty safe and closed the door. Gato's cries of panic could not be heard from the other side.

* * *

After midnight that evening things at the Wave Daimyo's castle were as silent as a grave for lack of a better term. It was so quiet that the armed guards were only half-paying attention for threats, and that would prove to be their downfall.

An unnatural mist filled the grounds, and within one minute every guard outside had been killed without a sound being made, by themselves or the cause.

Sneaking into the building itself was almost sad with how easy it was. To Naruto stealing the forbidden scroll had been more of a challenge. Getting to the daimyo's room was just as easy. He was sleeping completely defenselessly in a silk sheet bed by himself, no wife next to him. Appearance-wise he looked like Homura in his late forties, with gray hair that still had some black to it.

He woke up when he noticed it was a lot colder and he couldn't move his blankets. He opened his eyes thinking a window must have been left open, only to find he couldn't get out of bed.

"What's going on? Is this ice?"

"Yes." Haku said, though thanks to the darkness of the room she couldn't be seen.

The daimyo looked around, and around his bed were four silhouettes, one taller than the other three but nothing stood out to help him identify them. "Who are you?"

"We will be the ones asking questions here. Every time you refuse to answer, we each take turns hurting you. And by the time it's his turn," Naruto stated, pointing at Zabuza's silhouette. "You might not survive afterwards. So I wouldn't be a hero if I were you."

The daimyo cowered in fear under his frozen blankets, wishing for his guards to arrive and save him.

"Oh, and don't bother calling out for anyone. Your guards put up even less of a fight than Gato's did." Hinata added.

"What did you do to Gato?" The daimyo asked.

"What do you care? He was draining your country dry, making your subjects even poorer than piss-poor. Yet I see he didn't affect your lavish lifestyle. Are you so rich that his taxes didn't affect you, or did you and he have an agreement in his business plans?" Naruto asked. When he saw how pristine everything is in the room but also in the area he had good reason to believe some kind of deal was made.

The daimyo did not want to answer that, but if these guys were the sort of big bad ninja he feared they were, he wasn't going to encourage them to try out any interrogation methods. "We did have an agreement."

"I figured as much. How else would he be able to get away with so much criminal behavior? The only alternative is you flat-out do not care what happens to your own nation." Hinata stated coldly.

"There was no harm done." The daimyo protested.

Naruto and Hinata narrowed their eyes at the ruler, though in the darkness that couldn't be seen. Fortunately their killing intent could be felt, and it could best be described as demonic.

"No harm done?" Naruto repeated in anger, tightening his fist in rage. "Have you even bothered to keep an eye on what Gato's been doing?"

"It was just one town, not the entire nation." The daimyo defended.

"It was a town that controlled a great portion of your imports and exports, so it affected your entire country." Haku clarified.

"And when Gato was done with that one town, do you think he'd just stop and go away? Or wouldn't he have moved onto another town and then another until your whole country was broke? When were you going to step in and say enough?" Haku asked.

"Gato agreed to only go where I approved of and I agreed to turn a blind eye to his activities." The daimyo answered.

"Why did you agree to this?" Naruto asked.

"It was all my idea." The daimyo answered, surprising them all.

"Wait a minute, you _planned_ for Gato to do all this?" Naruto asked, having a hard time comprehending this. 'I thought Gato was the source of the nation's problem, but the daimyo is the one to blame?'

The daimyo nodded. "I had a plan for making the people here respect me more, so I allowed an outsider to come here and cause a lot of chaos and before things got too far I moved in with my forces and eliminated the threat. My subjects would be so grateful to me they'd do anything I'd want, and no one would dare kill me or let me die."

Naruto growled like an animal and clenched his fists, grinding his teeth. He was really close to revealing his fox features right now. "You deliberately made your own subjects suffer and live like rats, just so you could pretend to be a hero and take advantage of them?" 'This guy is so much like Namikaze it's boiling my blood.'

"Of course it sounds bad when you say it like that." The daimyo said in a tone that said he honestly believed he wasn't wrong for doing what he did.

Zabuza snorted and shook his head already not liking what he has heard. "Alright then, say it in a way that _doesn't_ sound bad."

"People need to idolize and respect their leaders, but everyone here was disrespecting me instead. I could have easily done a massacre to force them to show me respect but I chose a more humane way."

"Humane?" Hinata asked, offended. "People who deserve respect don't go around making problems just so they can take the credit for fixing them. There's nothing humane about what you've done."

"You're a monster, and believe me, I do _not_ use that word lightly." Naruto claimed.

The daimyo nervously smirked knowing a way he can survive his ordeal. "Well if you care about the people of this country so much then you won't do anything to me. Killing me will create a power vacuum since I have no heir and the turmoil created will be even worse than anything Gato did since it will affect the entire nation."

"Something tells me they'd rather deal with that then what they have been dealing with." Zabuza mentioned. "Besides, there are always policies and a chain of status to determine who fills a vacancy in the political world. Your so-called power vacuum won't last long." The younger shinobi all turned to him with confused looks. "When I was a jonin shinobi we all have to know some certain policies and treaties. Made us less likely to kill people in powerful places recklessly."

"Should we kill him now and let things work out naturally?" Naruto asked thinking how this will fit with Zabuza's point.

"Actually, I have an idea that could benefit us greatly." Hinata offered, making everyone curious and in the daimyo's case worried.

* * *

After a week of recovery from sharingan overuse Kakashi was back to normal and on guard. He insisted his team gather together with Tazuna because Zabuza attacking this day was practically a sure thing. Tazuna's crew was hard-pressed to work with the constant threat on their lives all the more apparent with ninja guards here, and seeing the pink-haired girl they were more familiar with look like she was trying to wake up from a nightmare the whole time, they weren't all that reassured.

The other members of Team Seven tried to show a lot more spine than Sakura. Sai smiled, though it didn't really mean anything. Sasuke kept his senses on full alert, hoping this fight would allow him to activate his sharingan so all his other plans could finally start. Kakashi was wary and hoped they'd get out of this alive.

'Only now do I wish that I had requested back-up. It's not like Hokage-sama wouldn't send us some to ensure Sasuke stayed out of danger, but I didn't know someone like Zabuza would be here after the Demon Brothers. And he's still trying to recover the Kyuubi kid so I doubted he'd spare some back-up.' Kakashi didn't like thinking about Naruto by name, made it that much easier to pretend he wasn't really his sensei's son.

Tazuna tried to keep his mind on his work, but in his worry something came to mind. He approached Kakashi and spoke quietly, hoping not to draw attention to himself. "Hey, is my family safe? What if Gato tries to get them too?"

'Crap, how did I miss that?' Kakashi asked himself, seeing he just made a rookie mistake. 'I can't yet use any of my chakra to summon my dogs. I need to conserve it for fighting Zabuza and the fake hunter nin.' He turned to his genin. "Can one of you go back to Tazuna's house and protect his family?"

"The fight's guaranteed here so I'm staying here." Sasuke said as if Kakashi wasn't allowed to tell him otherwise.

Sakura nervously gulped but held her ground. "I'd feel much better staying here with Sasuke-kun." 'If I go I'd be safe from that guy with the sword but if someone does show up at the house Sasuke-kun won't be able to protect me. I'm better off here.'

Sai looked his normal weird self. "I can do it. I don't mind."

"Good, then hurry there." Kakashi ordered, and Sai left without complaint. He then looked at his two remaining students. "Sasuke, Sakura, do _not_ take this lightly. Zabuza does not care what your name is or what jobs your parents have."

"I'm an Uchiha. He has no choice but to respect me." Sasuke stated.

"You can tell him that while he's cutting off your head." Kakashi told his student. "Just be on alert and ready to fight."

Sasuke looked excited and Sakura was trying to keep her legs from shaking, but both kept their eyes and ears open for anything approaching.

They were only wasting their time, but they didn't know it.

* * *

"Hello, welcome to Konoha. What is the nature of your visit?" Izumo said to the newcomer, who happened to be a teenage brunette girl wearing a dirty pink kimono.

"Refuge and safety I suppose."

"Could you be more specific ma'am?" Kotetsu asked.

"You don't have to call me ma'am. I'm only fourteen."

"Just being polite. Now, why exactly are you coming to Konoha? Is it to hire ninja?" Kotetsu asked further.

"I came here because I can no longer live at my old home. I'm all alone and frightened so I thought maybe I could live somewhere like a ninja village. The security is excellent here isn't it?"

"This is Konoha, of course the security is great." Izumo told her.

"I sure hope so. Terrible things have been happening back home so I want to feel safe."

"What's your name and where are you from?" Kotetsu asked, ready to write it down for the registry.

"I'm Hasegawa Haku and I was from Nami no Kuni." The brunette told him.

"Nami no Kuni?" Izumo repeated.

Izumo stared at the girl. "Didn't Hokage-sama send some ninja that direction over a week ago?" He looked at Kotetsu who is trying to recall that.

The girl hearing this looked down and started to hold herself. "It wasn't soon enough if you ask me. My entire family is dead because of a madman and the state of the country is abysmal. I have nothing back there, so I wish to make a new start here if that's possible."

"Do you have a ninja background?" Izumo asked.

Haku tilted her head to the side. "I was unaware there was a place to train ninja in Nami no Kuni."

"So you aren't one?"

Haku shook her head. "I was taught how to be a medic and herbalist. Being a killer isn't my style."

Kotetsu jotted down a few notes. "You'll have to see our new resident department first before you can officially move in. As a ninja village, we can't let just anyone move in after all. Severe security risk."

"I sure wouldn't want that." Haku claimed. "If that is your policy I can handle it. I have nothing to hide."

* * *

Hours later a fox appeared before Naruto and Hinata, who were back in Gato's building.

"She's reported success. Haku has successfully infiltrated Konoha."

Naruto grinned seeing that this is a good start. "Good. Now we have someone we can trust on the inside to keep an eye on the village. Just like Hinata-chan said."

Hinata proudly nodded. "And with luck she can find your secret supporters." That particular point of interest meant a lot to her. With Haku inside she can easily get information but also remain unknown.

According to the files, Sarutobi noted that not everyone in Konoha went along with Namikaze's plans. Some like Hinata's mother were downright horrified that their Hokage actually wanted his own son to be miserable for the sake of world domination and worked to thwart the plan. Not wanting them to succeed, Sarutobi had any he found killed or under surveillance if he could use them, but few were actually named in the files. They weren't sure if that meant there were only a few supporters to begin with, or if Sarutobi hadn't identified them all yet.

'So there is hope.' Both Naruto and Hinata thought when they saw those notes.

With that in mind, Hinata came up with the idea to plant a scout in Konoha to find out both who was on Naruto's side and what the Naruto-haters were up to if possible. Haku agreed and volunteered, believing she was the only safe option they had. Even though leaving Zabuza wasn't that appealing, she believed they both owed Naruto something since he did agree to assist the rebels in hopes of thwarting Namikaze and saving the jinchuuriki from him. If being his lone spy in Konoha was how she could help him, she had to give it a try.

"You sure letting her sign that fox contract was a good idea?" Zabuza asked, concerned. "If she's caught using it people will know you're connected to her and that will bring big problems and probably the Yellow bastard." He all but snarled thinking about the Yondaime Hokage.

"You know a better way to maintain contact with her?" Naruto asked.

"Well, now that she's there the timing's right to go to Mizu no Kuni. The rebels are going to love this information, and yes I'll give you two extra training along the way. Participate in the fight with us and you should get all the experience you came here for." Zabuza answered. 'Having two doujutsu on our side, the tide of the war can be turned.'

Naruto and Hinata nodded. "Before we go, let's forget that last thing we wanted to do. Is Gato where we left him?"

Zabuza went to the safe and opened it. "Yep, still here. Bet he wishes he didn't make the thing airtight now."

"Let's give Nami no Kuni exactly what it wants."

* * *

It was two days after the day Team Seven expected to face Zabuza again, and still nothing happened. Kakashi at this point was practically paranoid while Sasuke was livid that he was in his mind denied his chance to gain his sharingan. He was actually strongly tempted to go find the biggest toughest guy he could and pick a fight with him in hopes that would suffice. Only reason he didn't was because Kakashi assured him Zabuza was going to appear soon enough.

"It's possible I underestimated his recovery rate, but it's more likely that he's biding his time in an effort to make us drop our guard. So whatever you do, save your strength. You're going to need it."

In the afternoon when they were guarding the bridge as it was being built, Sakura had run up to her team from Tazuna's house. Today her courage had failed her and she stayed where it was safe even if Sasuke wasn't there.

"Kakashi-sensei!" She screamed.

"Sakura, don't scream when you're on a mission. It gives away your position." Kakashi scolded.

"Someone dropped off a dead body at the house. It happened so fast I didn't even know it happened until after it did." The pinkette explained, sounding more than a bit shaken by the experience.

The cyclops was indeed intrigued by this sort of message, that's clearly what this was, and knew he had to inspect it. Unwilling to leave his post, he created a single shadow clone. "Show me the body."

Sakura led the clone back to Tazuna's house, where they saw the corpse of an old man in the front yard, being kicked hard by Inari repeatedly.

"Hey, stop that." Kakashi's clone ordered.

Inari frowned but his harden stare made Kakashi wonder why that attitude. "No way. I have every right to do this." He then held out a piece of paper. "And this is why."

The clone took it and read it. "To whom it may concern, this man is Gato. The man who has been destroying this town and even killed the Wave Daimyo. He can do no more harm to anyone, and those working for him have been dealt with too. Most of the money he's taken from the people of Nami no Kuni will be returned to them. We only wish we had found out about him sooner. And to the shinobi from Konoha, no hard feelings in beating you to this."

"So this guy is the one threatening Tazuna-san?" Sakura asked.

Kakashi didn't answer. Instead he crumpled up the paper in his hands. 'This note is really an insult to us. Someone knew we were here and set out to take our victory from us. They showed us up and made sure we knew it by delivering us the enemy's corpse. All while making themselves look good to the locals and us look incompetent, thus gaining their favor more.'

"Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked, sensing his hidden anger.

"I'm fine Sakura, just wondering who did this." 'And if I should send a message to Jiraiya-sama. I think he's supposed to be off finding the brat. I wonder if asking him to check this out too would be too much. I can't help but feel something isn't right with this.'

Inari snorted getting the jounin's attention "Whoever did this obviously is much stronger then you guys are. I knew you guys weren't going to beat Gato. I just wish I got to see who _did_ kill him." He got one last kick in on the body then left. 'Whoever you are, thank you. You're the kind of hero Otou-san always told me about. I guess I gave up on those type of people a little too soon.'

Kakashi looked back at the body and noticed something. "Hey, wait a moment." He knelt down and removed one of the kunai's sticking out of Gato's eyes. When the eye came out with it, he calmly removed it.

"Oh gross!" Sakura said, looking away in disgust. "What are you doing?" She covered her face, not wanting to see what her sensei was doing. She also had to try to ignore the sounds that came with the act.

"Trying to get a clue on who did this." Kakashi answered.

"How?" The pinkette asked, still refusing to look at the scene.

"Sakura, each village makes their kunai in different ways. The differences aren't obvious but if you carefully inspect it you can often get an idea of where a kunai came from." The silver-haired told his student.

Sakura now looked on as Kakashi took a close look at the throwing knife. With years on his side knowing what nation uses what, he saw some clues. "Hmm... the metal it's made of feels wrong for the type they use in Kumo, which is more electricity-conductive. It doesn't have that weighted tip that Iwa likes to use. The blade itself isn't curved inward, concave if you will, so it can't be from Kiri. And the leather on the handle is clearly not the kind they use in Suna. So by process of elimination, this one came from Konoha."

'But who from Konoha came to Nami no Kuni and did the job that we were supposed to do? I never sent a report to the Hokage. Who else could be assigned to come here?' He asked himself.

"So you're saying someone from Konoha came here without us knowing it, found this guy, and killed him?" Sakura asked, wondering the same thing that Kakashi is thinking.

"Somehow yes." The cycloptic jounin answered. Looking at the kunai one last time he pocketed it for later. "Or maybe it's just someone wanting us to think that by using a Konoha kunai they previously collected. A missing nin could have taken gear that belonged to a shinobi of Konoha and is using that to throw us off their trail."

"Could it be from one of the minor villages?" Sakura wondered.

"Possible, but they'd likely be an ally of ours if the kunai is made the same way. Either way, whoever did this didn't do this to help us. No, they did it to make us look weak." Kakashi replied. "It can't be Cha no Kuni since they don't have a shinobi village, but Kawa no Kuni with their skilled artisans is a good possibility."

Sakura frowned. "The bastards. Sasuke-kun would have done it even faster if we hadn't been so focused here." Wondering how Sasuke would have done it. 'He would have killed him quickly but also saved me from any danger in no time.'

Kakashi took another look at Gato's body and noticed something more. "Also, this man wasn't killed recently. Judging by the coloration, I'd say he's been dead for at least two days. Maybe longer. And it probably wasn't the kunai that killed him."

"But he has kunai in his eyes. That has to be the reason for his death." Sakura protested, pointing to the sockets with all the blood on his face.

"Yes, but they weren't deep enough to be a lethal wound. He would have lived, he just would have been blind. What killed him, I don't know. But since there are no obvious wounds on him aside from the pierced eyes and freeze damage to his hands, the best guess I could give for cause of death is heart attack or suffocation."

'They didn't leave nothing to chance. These guys are good.' With no other visible marks besides what he has, he can only think of a few ways this guy died.

"How awful. These people are monsters." Sakura said.

Kakashi shook his head remembering how inexperienced she still is. "No Sakura, these people are ninja. This is what we do. This is what Sasuke wants to do with his life. The sooner you accept this, the sooner you can help him as you want to. If you can't, then the best way to help him is to not slow him down."

Sakura just frowned but said nothing to her sensei. Seeing that Sasuke hasn't left his spot and was waiting for the fight to start. 'So this is what Sasuke-kun wants to do.'

* * *

Later that night word spread around town that Gato was dead at the hands of mystery assassins, and the daimyo at the hands of Gato. The daimyo's body wasn't found, but a note saying 'Gato is in charge now' was. Which left many people scared to hear what happened to one town in Nami no Kuni. If these assassins didn't come and take out Gato themselves, Nami no Kuni would have suffered as a nation itself but one thing came to everyone's mind.

Who saved them? Will they come back again if they need them?

Soon everyone rejoiced happy they were saved, but no one knew who to give credit for it to.

At the bar, one man named Giichi was having a drink. "Guess I owe Tazuna an apology."

Moshiro the bartender nodded. "Yes you do, and I think we owe that passing couple some gratitude."

"You really think they had anything to do with this?"

"I'd bet all the money I'm being given back on it. If we see them again, we better thank them."

"What about the Konoha ninja?" Giichi asked.

Mo shrugged. "What about them? What exactly did they do?"

"I don't know. I didn't hang around to see them do anything."

"But do you think they solved the problem?" Mo asked.

Giichi shrugged. "Don't know, don't really care. I'm just glad the problem is solved. And if that couple _is_ the one responsible, good luck to the both of them in whatever it is they intend to do."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

After a week of sailing on a small boat they finally reached its destination. "Nice to be back on land." Naruto commented as he, Hinata, and Zabuza departed the boat they had 'borrowed' from Nami no Kuni. Of course 'borrowed' meant taken while the captain was flirting with two brothel women.

"Now remember kid, try not to say too much and don't show that file to just anyone. For all we know the Mizukage has spies in the rebel forces and if he finds out you have this then Namikaze will too." Zabuza warned. Knowing how dangerous this can be, Zabuza looks around and wonders if anyone has spotted him just yet. 'With all this going, what are the odds that someone from the Seven Swordsmen knew about this? Was that one of the reasons why we failed to stop the Mizukage?'

"That's why I'm keeping it from all eyes until I decide it's worth showing." Naruto replied. Hinata nodded quickly activated her Byakugan to take a quick look around. Seeing nothing she turned to Naruto giving him a nod.

Zabuza saw it was clear too for now. "Good thinking. Now don't take this the wrong way, but why did you decide to show it to me when you didn't even know my name?"

Naruto shrugged. "Part of it was to keep you from trying to kill us. The rest was mostly a gamble."

The demon of the mist stood there blinking at Naruto. "Word of advice kid, some things are too valuable to gamble. For all you know I could have still killed you and your girlfriend and taken the information for myself."

"Oh I knew that. But I had faith we could have avoided that." Naruto replied.

Hinata nodded "We've been warned before, but if Naruto-kun thinks that way most likely I won't be able to change his mind."

"From now on kids, try to be a little more practical than hopeful." Zabuza warned. "But for now, let's focus more on getting where we need to go."

Naruto and Hinata nodded silently, already instructed in what to do on their end here.

The destination they had come to was an island surrounding the main island of Mizu no Kuni on the southern side. At first glance it was an island like any other, covered with forests and a single peak with crags and cliffs on the shores. But in this country no island was just an island. Every acre of land was potentially filled with something hidden there by ninja.

Naruto and Hinata had to follow right behind Zabuza in case the ground had any traps in it. Their vulpine senses were on full alert in the new territory, both unsure what to expect but ready for the worst. Zabuza noticed their caution and mentally applauded them for being on their guard even with someone experienced accompanying them. He had seen several genin over the years assume that their jounin sensei would bail them out if they were careless.

It had been around mid-afternoon when they came ashore, and it became sunset as they reached the place Zabuza was headed to. Which happened to be a vine-covered cliff side they stood at the bottom of.

"Why did we take so long?" Naruto asked. "We ringed around the island on foot twice."

"We were avoiding the traps and had to take the long way." Zabuza answered without looking back.

Hinata leaned next to Naruto and whispered in his ear. "I noticed his path went inwardly the farther he went. It reminded me of a spiral going inward. Maybe if we took the direct route we would have been endangered."

Naruto nodded, seeing that. "Why would Kiri use a spiral design though?" He whispered back.

Hinata found herself speechless, seeing Naruto's confusion.

Zabuza ignored them and did what looked like a genjutsu release. "Kai!" The vines immediately withdrew from the rocks to reveal what was clearly no less than thirty locks on a stone door in the cliff.

"Are the rebels in there?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, but only one of these locks can open the door and if you try to unlock one of the wrong ones... well, the nicest way I could say it is if you're lucky enough to survive the security measures you deserve to be alive." Zabuza said, pulling out a kunai. Both Naruto and Hinata looked at each and back to the kunai feeling nervous of what kind of security measure this is. "You need one of these to unlock the lock."

"And not just any kunai. It has to be one forged in Kiri I presume." Hinata added.

"Smart girl. Now, please close your eyes and no doujutsu. I need to keep this part secret at the very least." The preteens agreed and covered their eyes, and moving quickly Zabuza used his kunai to unlock the one safe lock to open the door. The stone door split in two and parted, revealing a tunnel into the mountain. "Okay, follow me quickly. The door doesn't stay open long."

The trio ran inside before the stone door closed and vines returned to cover the entrance. From the outside, it looked like nothing had happened.

Inside Naruto and Hinata saw a tunnel sloping downward, no lights anywhere to illuminate their path. Hinata reflexively activated her byakugan. "I can see a network of halls and rooms inside this mountain, most of it underground. And I think I see some escape routes too. But this place is too small for an effective rebellion against a hidden village. Is this all of them?"

Zabuza smirked, having expected someone to say something like that. "This isn't the only base we have. So no. This is just the one I come back to when I have to." Zabuza told her as he walked down the hall, knowing the layout enough that he didn't need lights in the halls. "Also don't limit what you think. Expand what you see or hear." Zabuza added. Both Naruto and Hinata followed him with focus.

Hinata kept a hold of Naruto so he wouldn't get lost. The rinnegan didn't seem to have night vision, at least not at his current level if at all.

Near the end of the hall there were lights, and a fork in the path. Zabuza went right and his two new shadows followed. They took a staircase and reached a lower level, where they were greeted by two Kiri guards.

"Ah, Zabuza-sempai, you're returned. Good news or bad news?"

"A mix of both but mostly good. I need to see Terumi-sama" answered Zabuza.

One of the guards noticed the two preteens. "Who are they?"

"The ones who can back my words up, and can help our cause. Terumi-sama needs to see all three of us."

The guards showed only a moment's hesitation. "Be quick." They said before parting, allowing them to pass.

Zabuza came up to a door and knocked seven times. "Demon of the Mist is back."

The door opened and a man was revealed. He was easily in his forties, sporting red hair held back in a masculine ponytail, blue eyes but the left one was covered by a strand of hair, and a blue jounin uniform with a jounin vest and black pants. On his back there was a nodachi as long as his entire body, handle included.

"Zabuza-san, good to see you. What have you brought us now?"

"I've done my job and acquired some more funds for us. Enough to last us a while while living in hiding, and if we fight soon then enough to help us rebuild Kiri." Zabuza said, pulling out the scroll he had half of Gato's fortune sealed inside. "But what I really bring is information on the enemy that could greatly affect our strategy."

"Hmm... I'm listening."

"Terumi-sama, these are two runaway genin I've met on my last assignment." Zabuza said, gesturing to the two former Konoha natives. "They've got the information and proof of it, but for security reasons I insist we keep this information _confidential_."

"Any information that can help us must be shared with our council Zabuza. You know that." The man replied, wondering what information a genin could have acquired that they didn't. Taking a look at the two teens with Zabuza, he saw no hitai-ates. 'Judging from the girl she is a Hyuga. The boy, I can't tell what he is.'

Zabuza shook his head and wonders how this will play out. "I know, but the nature of the information might cause some turmoil and the fewer who know this, the better."

The redhead man looked confused and bothered. "You think the council would misuse any information that can benefit the village."

"In my experience, councils tend to put their benefits on the same level as the village." Naruto commented.

The redhead man narrowed his eyes. "And you are?"

"I don't want to give out my real name just yet."

"Then you will be detained or killed."

Naruto frowned seeing how bad this will go. Seeing how far they have gone he turned to Zabuza who gave him a hardened stare. "Fine. My name is Uzumaki Naruto."

The redhead flinched. "Uzumaki?"

"Yeah, why? Do you know about the clan?"

The redhead looked closer at the blonde, then cleared his throat. "If you are indeed an Uzumaki, why is your hair blonde? Can you prove you're an Uzumaki?"

"My hair is blonde because of the sperm donor that met my mother. As for proof, how about this?" Naruto said before revealing his rinnegan.

"The rinnegan?" The redhead man said in shock. "Boy, right now you can call yourself whatever you want as far as I'm concerned. But can you speak with my council and tell them what Zabuza brought you here for? I assure you that they will not get out of line with whatever you share."

"Why should I believe that?" Naruto asked.

"Because I am Terumi Yuge, leader of the rebellion, and if we win I'll be Godaime Mizukage. I'd be unfit to become such a person if I was quick to turn against the people who supported me. I'm no Yagura-teme. I assure you I plan to be a better person than he is, not the same."

Naruto did not know how to take that. "Alright, I'll speak to your cousin, but tell me why my being an Uzumaki mattered?"

"You'll understand better in the meeting." Yuge told him.

* * *

Within an hour Naruto and Hinata went where they were supposed to go. It was a large round room with a round table and eight seats forming an octagon around it. Each seat was filled except for one.

Yuge and Zabuza led Naruto and Hinata into the room. Zabuza stood beside them while Yuge went to the empty seat. "Everyone I called you here today to share with you something that Zabuza-san has brought to my attention. I have not been fully informed of the details myself, but what I have been told is interesting enough to tell everyone here. Zabuza-san, please start for us."

The swordsman stepped forward. "As you all are aware I've been posing as a missing nin in an effort to acquire funds for you all. Funds needed to get resources you can't find naturally and to make life back in Kiri after the war a sense of normal again. My latest job was with a tycoon on the continent named Gato who paid me for a few elimination jobs. Paid me poorly I might add. But before I could complete my last assignment, Gato had two visitors that surprised me quite a bit. They attacked him when he was defenseless and got my attention long enough to at least stall me from attacking them before they killed the guy who paid me."

"How did they get your attention?" A purple-haired man with red eyes asked.

"At first these two kids behind me offered to give me access to all of Gato's fortune. I did not expect that, as I figured what sane person would just have over millions of ryo like that? But they took the keys to his funds and just handed them to me, no questions asked. After that, I was curious to find out what these kids really wanted."

"And what was that?" A red-haired woman next to Yuge asked. Naruto and Hinata noticed her similar appearance to him and wondered if she was related to him.

"We found out what Gato was doing to the people of Nami no Kuni and felt he needed to be removed. No one else was doing it, so we stepped in to." Hinata answered. "From there we ran into Zabuza-sensei who we had no qualm with once we determined he was only protecting his income, not his boss. Also, we determined he was one of your famous swordsmen and suspected he would be interested in something we knew."

"Tell me Zabuza, why didn't you just eliminate them right away? That doesn't seem like you." One of the council members asked.

"I tried, but they got a lucky dodge in. Also I had been on bed rest for days so I was probably a little slower than expected. Anyway, they got my attention with their disinterest in taking the money and peaked it when they implied they knew something about Yagura that we did not."

That peaked the interests of everyone else in the room, and they all looked attentively at Naruto and Hinata. "Go on."

"First I have one question to ask. What does the name Uzumaki mean to you?" Naruto asked.

Everyone except Yuge flinched. "Are you an Uzumaki?"

"Yes. Did Kiri have some connection to them I should know about?" Naruto pressed.

"Not too long ago we worked with Uzushio in a tactic exchange. We gained some strategies from them as well as some seals so we could produce unique swords, and in exchange we gave them some jutsu and some seeds for medical herbs that grew only on our islands originally."

"Is that why the defense system here was shaped like a spiral? It originated with the Uzumaki?" Hinata asked. Naruto let out a grin to see his clan legacy still at work after all these years.

"Perceptive girl. Yes, that's right. Our allies in Uzushio helped us make secure hide-outs for tough times." A blue-skinned Kiri nin told him. He looked just like a shark molded into a human shape.

Naruto frowned. "If you were good allies then where were you when Uzu was invaded and destroyed?"

"Sea travel takes time even for us. By the time we got there it was too late." The purple-haired councilor responded sadily.

"It sounds like you got more out of the deal then Uzushio did." Naruto commented.

"You're only saying that because you're lamenting the fate of your ancestors. They were not betrayed by _us_." Another person in the back stated.

"Who said anything about betraying anyone?" Naruto replied.

"Let's keep on topic people." Yuge told everyone. "Uzumaki-san, please tell us what you know about the Yondaime Mizukage."

'My instincts are telling me something's not right here.' Naruto thought. 'But I can't just leave without arousing suspision. Maybe I can still benefit from this situation.'

"Your mizukage is not acting of his own free will anymore." The disguised fox-hanyou told everyone.

"That's quite a claim. Are you on his side?" The shark-face nin asked.

"No I am not. I do however know who is controlling him. But I doubt you'd believe me if I told you."

"Show them the file kid. That ought to convince them." Zabuza said.

"What file?" Yuge asked.

Naruto put his hands in his pockets. "I have physical evidence of what I'm telling you. However, as Zabuza-sensei has been instructing me in our travel here, I shouldn't be quick to show it to just anyone. It would be unprofessional of me to show it just because you asked me too. Instead I'll just summarize it to you. A ninja from Konoha is using the sharingan to mentally control your mizukage in hopes your village will self-destruct. And when he's done he'll take your jinchuuriki and set out to conquer the world with them."

The council was silent, taking this in. "You're telling us an Uchiha is trying to destroy our village?"

"Impossible. That clan is wiped out. Everyone knows that."

"There is the one who exterminated his clan. He's reported as still alive. It could be him."

"Even so the Yondaime isn't even human. Aren't demons supposed to be uncontrollable by humans?"

"If that was true we wouldn't be able to turn demons into weapons now would we?"

"But if it is true then the threat goes deeper than we anticipated."

"It makes sense though. Even people loyal to the mizukage suspect he's being manipulated as his behavior is different than what they know to be his normal."

With everyone bickering back and forth putting out ideas but also conspiracies and lies. "Silence!" Yuge declared, silencing the room. Then he looked at Naruto. "Young man, that's a hard story to believe. I really think we should see this proof you have before we take your claim with any more seriousness than we already have."

Naruto frowned openly. "Why should I give it to you?"

"Why should we believe you if you don't?" A blue-haired man with an eyepatch asked.

"Zabuza-sensei asked me to come here and help him because this fight is supposed to be against tyranny and for a return to a normal life for you and your families. I agreed because I think everyone should have that rather than have their lives controlled by the selfish. But since I got here, I've been asking myself how are you guys going to be better than the very threat you're trying to overpower. Tell me how, and tell me what really happened to the Uzumaki, or else we're out of here."

Hinata nodded and stepped closer to Naruto, both ready to reverse-summon themselves back to Shobikou at any moment if they had to.

"Why should we listen to you boy?" The purple-haired man said, his eyes starting to glow.

Naruto responded by revealing his rinnegan. "My eyes are my answer."

Everyone gasped. "An actual rinnegan? But that's supposed to be pure myth."

The purple-haired man's eyes glowed red as he stared intensively at Naruto. "It's not a genjutsu." His eyes then stopped glowing.

"What was that?" Naruto asked.

"My own doujutsu. That's all you need to know. But please, if there really is an Uchiha controlling the Mizukage, is that the only threat?"

"I'd confirm which side the Water Daimyo's on if I were you, but outside that I don't see another threat." Naruto answered.

"We already have and it's not ours." The woman next to Yuge told him.

"Boy, girl, I don't like the fact that you're keeping something from us, but my gut tells me you'd be of great use to us. For the time being consider yourself drafted for duty until the threat is over. We see any sign of escape and you'll be treated as any other missing nin out there." Yuge told them.

Without even looking at each other Naruto and Hianta came to an agreement on what to do here. "Alright then. But let us be a part of the group attacking the mizukage directly" Naruto demanded.

"Why should we?"

"Because I've got an idea I want to try out." Naruto replied.

"Nonsense. What could a child like you-?" The eyepatch man started.

"Ao!" The redhead woman interrupted. "Shut up or I'll kill you."

"But why Mei-san?"

Everyone turned to her wondering what is going on. Leaning forward from her chair she folded her hands on the table and looked at Naruto "Because I think that if the mizukage is in fact being controlled by a sharingan, maybe a rinnegan can return him to normal. I know it's in our shinobi nature to not immediately trust anyone we're unfamiliar with, but so far we have no real reason to believe these kids are lying to us."

"But still we have to take precautions." Ao cut in.

Mei sent him a glare while she turned to the demon of the mist. "Zabuza-san here has vouched for them and he's one of our best soldiers. We should not be doubting him now. Instead we should give these kids a chance to prove themselves. Zabuza went through all this trouble to come back here and he was there when we fought against the Mizukage the first time. So whatever he knows must be true."

"And how do you propose we do that without endangering ourselves?" The purple-haired man asked.

Mei smiled at the question, and Naruto and Hinata did not like the look of it.

* * *

Naruto and Hinata were later escorted into a small room with just a single bed in it. The only thing they had been told was to remain there until the next morning where they would be evaluated by the leaders of the rebellion.

Once the door closed Naruto growled and punched the wall in frustration.

"Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked, concerned. "What's wrong?"

"This whole situation." He answered, keeping his anger out of his voice for her sake. "When we agreed to help Zabuza-sensei in this, I agreed because I thought this way we'd be helping oppressed people while hurting Namikaze."

"You mean sort of like what we did back in Nami no Kuni?" Hinata asked.

"Yeah. Like that."

"But...?" Hinata asked, stretching the word as a way to lead him to continue.

"But after seeing the people who want to replace the Mizukage, I'm wondering if they'd be any different than what they think he is."

"What do you mean?" Hinata asked.

Naruto closed his eyes in anger. "They know something about Uzushio that they don't want me to know about. And they called the mizukage a demon. I know from experience that they weren't referencing his behavior, but the fact he's a jinchuuriki. So to them it doesn't really matter whether he's being controlled or not, they've already made up their mind on what to do to him."

"Naruto-kun, don't take this the wrong way, but maybe the mizukage wasn't as nice as you were even before he was controlled. Zabuza-sensei couldn't really tell us much about him. Sure, Namikaze made him do some bad things, but no one gets to be a kage by being a saint. Maybe Yagura-san didn't want to prove people wrong like you did, maybe he just wanted to get back at them. Maybe that's why Namikaze could control him; all he had to do was give Yagura-san the idea to do something and the mizukage did the rest." answered Hinata.

Naruto sighed. "You might be right. Just because he's a jinchuuriki doesn't mean he was like I was. But I want to see for myself what kind of person he was before these people decide to pass judgment on him."

"What will you do once you have your answer?" Hinata asked.

"That depends on what the answer is." Naruto told her.

* * *

A week later it was a normal night in Kirigakure, clear sky but misty grounds, low cast clouds like an inversion by the mountains. And like any normal night in a ninja village people were on their guard. Especially with the civil war going on.

Stores were closed at night no exceptions. Civilians were required to remain indoors, and the only ninja permitted to be outside were the night watch patrolling for any chance of invasion. Kiri was as silent as a ghost town but better illuminated.

For the rebels, that was what they wanted.

A platoon of Kiri nin were standing guard on Kiri's east side, the side that typically had the least amount of mist on an average night thanks to the wind currents from the sea to the west that often created the mist. That was also the side closest to the capital of Mizu no Kuni.

So when a traveling caravan came into view the guardians weren't overly surprised but still cautious.

The caravan came to a halt when six Kiri nin surrounded it. "Halt and identify yourselves."

One of the cloth flaps on the second wagon opened up, revealing a remarkably beautiful young brunette woman wearing a teal dress and adorned with sapphire jewelry and pearls. "Do I need to identify myself?"

"Oh, Daimyo-sama, our apologies. but in these war times we are required to-"

"You are required to let me pass when I am on my way, are you not?" The daimyo told the ninja in a no-nonsense manner.

"Yes, yes we are." The ninja replied, fearful he had offended the only person in the country who had authority over the mizukage.

The woman then looked forward, as if the ninja was no longer worth looking at. "Then let me and mine enter to speak with the mizukage."

"Yes, of course Daimyo-sama. Everyone, open the gates for them." The gates were opened. "Allow us to escort you the rest of the way My Lady."

"Are you saying I am in danger here?"

"We are in a civil war so I can promise not even the children safety."

"Very well, but keep your distance. I don't want the smell of blood you ninja have on you to get into my clothes." The daimyo said pompously.

"As you wish."

* * *

"Mizukage-sama, Daimyo-sama is here for a visit."

Yagura had been relaxed in his office reading a book when he had been addressed. "The daimyo? Why has she arrived? Normally she dislikes being anywhere near us shinobi."

The current Water Daimyo was well known in Kiri, but she wasn't liked. The former daimyo and his wife had been unfortunate victims when the Kaguya clan went a little overboard in their battle frenzy that hurt Kiri and ultimately sparked the Bloodline Purges the village was still undergoing. The current daimyo was the late daimyo's eldest daughter who many believed was not fully prepared for her job nor even the rightful heir but someone who simply claimed the title for herself and executed those that dared say otherwise.

Yagura had met her before and quickly disliked her. She was named Shinju, and the simplest way Yagura could describe her was 'stuck-up spoiled brat'. She was one of those heirs that never had to work for their inheritance and thus assumed the world kept owing them more and more. She never worked for anything, she never earned anything, heck she never even had to ask for anything and when she did she didn't ask twice. And if that wasn't bad enough, Shinju acted like she had the right to judge the very worth of everyone's right to live, and no one other than her was a 10 on a 1-to-10 scale. Ninja were in her eyes at best 3.

Yet Yagura had to tolerate her since until someone could put the goddess-in-her-own-eyes in place and a proper Water Daimyo was declared.

"Tell her to wait in the central room of the tower. If she objects, tell her she's free to leave then." Yagura ordered as he got out of his chair.

"Yes Mizukage-sama." The messenger nin told him before departing.

* * *

Shinju was waiting impatiently seated on a small chair with some royal guards next to her to keep her safe. "Can't he come any faster?" She asked one of the local guards, waving a fan on herself.

"The mizukage will get here when he can."

"If his daimyo tells him to show up he doesn't have the luxury of saying 'when I can'." Shinju pointed out.

Fortunately that was the moment Yagura appeared, hook-staff on his back as usual and accompanied. To his right was a man with blue skin and fish-like features carrying a bandaged sword on his back, and to his left was a man wearing a Kakashi-style mask with flat black hair and black eyes.

"Daimyo-sama, it would be wise to remember that we are trained to kill and you are not irreplaceable. So please don't tempt us to kill you." Yagura told her with no hint of remorse in his voice.

Shinju closed her fan and stood up. "Are you threatening me you uncultured barbarian?"

"More of a warning, and I don't warn twice." Yagura told her with crossed arms. "Now tell me why have you decided to show up here in the Bloody Mist? I would have imagined you would wash your own laundry before you would set foot here."

"Trust me Mizukage-san, I dislike this as much as you do, but I need you to tell me something to my face for once."

"There are many things I'd like to tell you to your face, but little you'd want to hear." Yagura commented. "And address me as sama, not san."

"I'd address you as teme if I wasn't so certain these cretins here wouldn't gut me for it, so san is all you'll get. But what I can here for is for us to bury the hatchet and find a way to make things better for my country." Shinju told him.

Yagura ever so slightly tilted his head while the fishman next to him did it more. "Why should we cooperate with you now?"

"Quiet Kisame, this I'd like to hear." Yagura told him.

"Unfortunately for me you are not the only one who foolishly believes I am not fit to be in charge." Shinju stated. "People in my castle whisper of mutiny and that my uncle Hiromu should be in charge and not I, the firstborn of my father the late daimyo. I am of age to rule and thus my right is naturally supposed to be uncontested, yet it seems I'm surrounded by fools who can't see that."

"And what does this have to do with me?" Yagura asked.

"I don't like you barbarians but that doesn't mean I don't see the use of you. Just support my right to the throne and send a few threats to my enemies and I'll be content."

Yagura did not look intrigued. "What's in it for me?"

Shinju looked bothered. "I am the rightful daimyo and I need to be protected. Why should anything be in it for you? I deserve to be protected and I expect to be protected. You serve me and will do what I say regardless of if you'd be rewarded for it."

Yagura frowned. "I don't work for free, and if you think you can make me you will have the shortest term in office of any daimyo."

"Then I'm afraid I will have to remove you from office first."

Yagura lightly smirked, as did his guards. "I'd like to see you try."

Shinju smiled. "As you wish."

The guards around Shinju suddenly were covered in smoke and revealed themselves to be the rebels, including Yuge and Mei. Shinju also turned out to be an impostor, and was revealed to be a young Hyuuga girl.

"It's an ambush!" Yagura warned everyone, grabbing his staff while Kisame grabbed his sword and the black-haired guard just took a taijutsu stance. "Kill them!"

Before anyone could move, a redhead boy next to the Hyuuga girl crossed his fingers. "Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Hundreds of clones filled the room at the same moment the walls were blown to give the rebels room to move out while the clones kept the mizukage momentarily occupied.

"Nice acting Hinata-chan." Naruto whispered. He had shown blonde hair before to the rebels by mistake, but here he was showing red hair in case Namikaze tried to recognize him.

"Thanks Naruto-kun. Your advice of saying whatever I thought my father would say here really helped me make it work." She whispered back.

The rebels had planned on a great way to sneak-attack the mizukage. Using the Trojan Horse play, they got into the village undetected under the guise of royalty visiting. Hinata had been selected to play the role of Shinju because of her tested-and-proven immunity to mind-controlling genjutsu. If the person controlling Yagura decided to control the daimyo, only she would be able to resist and avoid giving the rebels away. All she had to do was act like the real Shinju, which wasn't easy since it wasn't in her nature to be pompous. But as a half-fox and kunoichi, it was in her nature now to be deceptive, and thanks to living around the Hyuuga for twelve years she knew exactly how pompous people behaved. The hard part was portraying it.

That part of her role over, she and Naruto had only one left to fulfill for the rebels: kill anyone who tried to kill them and see if Yagura really was being controlled by a sharingan.

A few more explosions were happening in random places throughout Kiri, and a young-looking blue-haired boy appeared before Yuge. "Yuge-sama, the traps are being used. The rebels can get inside Kiri now."

"Thank you Choujuro. You have been invaluable to us as a spy, but now we need you to fight. Tonight this ends once and for all." The leader of the rebels said.

Choujuro nodded and pulled out his own large sword, which became charged with chakra and looked like a two-handled hammer which he started using to hit the Anbu with. And he wasn't the only one fighting. Mei and her father were spitting lava everywhere and other ninja were using their kekkei genkai against the bloodline haters.

Naruto's clones were gone now so Kisame decided to join the fight. With his scaled sword on his shoulder, he took a moment to see the enemy. "Nothing but small fry. Is this really the best you can do?"

"You ain't seen nothing yet." Naruto told him. "And why are you even here? Are you one of those bloodline holders that this village is trying to kill? I know I've seen fish-people like you on the rebel's side."

"Yes, I am. And people here have tried to kill me. But I'm too strong for them to succeed, and the Mizukage likes that. Why else would I be his personal trusted bodyguard?" Kisame answered. Taking a stance he looked around and saw some of the rebels moving in before turning back to Naruto and Hinata. "This won't be a problem."

"Maybe he's just using you. Keeping you close to keep an eye on you." Hinata replied, byakugan flared and juuken ready, though instead of the traditional stance of the Hyuuga she was using the stance Kushina was teaching her.

Kisame frowned, but he didn't look offended. More bothered. "I already know that. I don't need kids telling me that."

"If you know it then why do you stay?" Naruto asked, somewhat reminded of his own situation. This man claimed he knew that his village was just using him and would likely kill him after they got what they wanted from him, yet he stayed. Why?

"None of your business kid." Kisame said as he swung his sword at the redhead boy.

Naruto dodged to the right but not quick enough to be unscathed He got a tear in his left side, not a dangerous one but enough that he did bleed from it. Wincing in pain he put pressure on his wound but in that moment Kisame tried to hit him from behind. Until Hinata got in front of him.

"Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!" She shouted then struck him with all the ferocity of those that had struck her in the past had used before. "Two palms. Four palms. Eight palms. Sixteen palms. Thirty-two palms. Sixty-four palms!" She shouted at the end as it was the first time she had ever used the technique to that quantity.

Kisame faltered in his stance for a bit but ultimately he just smiled. "Nice try girl, but I'm still fresh."

"What?" She asked, then noticed his chakra network. 'His tenketsu are closed off but his chakra is still flowing. Did I do the technique wrong?' Scanning his network once more she noticed the sword in her hand with chakra as well.

Lifting the sword, Kisame pointed it at the former Hyuuga. "Sorry kids, I take no pleasure in killing children but you chose the rebel's side and therefore must share their fate."

Before he could do anything, a shot of dark purple vapor hit him in the face from his left. Yelling momentarily in pain he tried to clear his eyes which now burned and the gill marks on his cheeks began to flare like nostrils.

"What the-?" Naruto asked, only to see Yuge approach.

"I'll handle him as he's out of your league. Go see if you can find the one controlling the mizukage." He said, readying another boil release jutsu that Kisame was already recovering from.

Naruto and Hinata wasted no time in getting away from the fishman.

* * *

All throughout Kiri the battle had escalated and become full-blown. Spies had allowed the rebels to enter and created decoys to confuse the loyalists, and the loyalists were killing anyone who tried to kill them back. Civilians were simply trying to stay out of it, hiding in their homes or bunkers while keeping knives and the like nearby in case someone barged in.

It was clearly a battle that wouldn't end until one side was dead, but the loyalists had the advantage of numbers if nothing else.

All the while, Yagura was fighting the ever-growing swarm of rebels around himself. Keeping a calm composure, he swung his hook staff around, allowing him to decapitate those unlucky enough to have their necks in the hooks path.

"Lava Style Volcanic River Jutsu." Mei declared just as she tried to hit him from behind with a stream of chakra-generated magma.

Yagura turned around and prepared his defense. "Water Style Water Mirror Jutsu." Condensing the moisture in the air he created a large disc of water right in front of the lava attack which reflected the oncoming attack. Using his hook staff Yagura moved the mirror and created an exact inverted version of the attack but aimed right at Mei's own. The two attacks hit and cancelled each other out, resulting in at worse a few cooled igneous rocks from the magma cooled by the water.

Another wave of people tried to strike from behind but Yagura was ready for them as well. "Ninja Art Barrier Reef Jutsu." He placed his palm on the ground before him, then a ring of glowing red chakra looped around himself with a radius of a meter around him. From that ring immediately grew a barrier of coral spikes sticking outwardly, skewering those that couldn't get away in time. Some managed to avoid the spikes and had to wait outside the barrier for another chance to attack the mizukage.

"Water Style Water Web Jutsu." Yagura calmly called from behind his coral wall. Over the top formed a water disc that quickly stretched out with eight tendrils and grabbed eight people which were then drawn into the center of the formation. "Water Style Spinning Aerial Whirlpool Jutsu." Yagura added, and the water formation began to spin in the air quite rapidly, almost like a centrifuge machine. Yagura reached up with his staff and literally hooked the water, somehow making it stop despite the fact it was a liquid. With that grab the spinning water came to an immediate halt, but those trapped inside did not. They unfortunately were thrown out of the water and sent flying everywhere very quickly, unable to stop themselves from crashing into buildings and ledges. None of them survived.

"Get out of the vacinity everyone." Mei ordered. "Boil Style Skilled Mist Jutsu." She exhaled a white vapor that looked remarkably like thick steam and blew with enough force to keep it going at Yagura's coral shield. The others around her got away as quick as they could, knowing this jutsu wasn't picky about what it hurt.

The mist hit the coral and began to dissolve it. Yagura did not look frightened at all, but with his bijuu cloak forming he sure looked frightening. The chakra cloak appeared to actually repel the corrosive gas before it even touched him. "Ninja Art Coral Kunai Jutsu." The coral spikes around him that hadn't been dissolved yet shattered then fired right at Mei who got a few cuts on her before she substituted with a log.

Naruto and Hinata were hiding watching this, trying to notice any flaw in Yagura's fighting style. So far they had only seen him react and fight like any kage could, perfectly. His defense was a good offense, his offense was painful to watch, and he had a bijuu to help him. He didn't look tired, he didn't even look entertained, but Hinata did notice one thing off in his appearance. His pink eyes looked gazed over, something she hadn't seen when she talked to him as the fake daimyo.

'He must be under a genjutsu right now. But how do we break him of it?' She asked herself, trying to remember everything she had ever heard about genjutsus. "Naruto-kun, I have an idea, but we need to immobilize the mizukage first."

Naruto nodded. "I don't think either of us are strong enough for that, but I think I know one person who is." He quickly did four hand signs. "Summoning Jutsu!" He put his hands on the ground and smoke billowed before Kyuubi in human form appeared.

"Naruto, what is going on here? Why did you summon me?" He asked. Fortunately Naruto had sent messages back to Kyuubi and Kushina over the past few weeks to explain his long absence.

"We're in Kiri, roped into helping their rebellion win. Right now though all we want to do is save the sanbi jinchuuriki from Namikaze." Naruto explained. "That's him right there." He added, pointing at Yagura.

Kyuubi turned and saw the bijuu-cloaked mizukage fighting the rebels and clearly winning. "Isobu's host eh? If he's being controlled then Namikaze must be nearby. You sure you don't want to target him instead?"

"It's tempting but we can't stand up to him yet and he can seal you away again." Naruto replied. Looking at Yagura he let out a sigh. "No, let's focus on breaking his hold over the mizukage first."

Kyuubi nodded. "Very well. I'll draw his attention then hold him down. You two try to inject your chakra directly into him. That should hopefully disrupt the genjutsu on him."

"That's what I thought. Why can't you do that while you're holding him?" Hinata asked.

"If the genjutsu overpowers even the presence of bijuu chakra, I might not be able to affect it. Maybe your hanyou chakra can get around it. It's worth a shot." Kyuubi told them. "Now, give me two kunais."

Not wanting to protest, Naruto and Hinata nodded and each gave him a weapon. Kyuubi, no fox features shown, came out of hiding and rushed at Yagura, who was pinning Mei down with his staff pressing down on her neck and his left foot on her right arm so she couldn't use either of her kekkei genkais so easily. When she struggled he pressed his foot down harder and a snapping sound was heard, followed by a scream.

Kyuubi moved quickly while Yagura was occupied, but the sanbi jinchuuriki still became aware of his presence. Kyuubi threw the kunai while Yagura's cloak grew a tail to deflect them. But that was what Kyuubi wanted, for he now had his attention and Yagura had his hands full.

Unwilling to let Mei go, Yagura tried to constrict his tail around Kyuubi, who successfully pushed against it and freed himself from the constriction. Surprised, Yagura tried to make a second tail but before he could Kyuubi succeeded in tackling him and knocking him on his back and off Mei.

Yagura's cloak flared but his expression was unchanged, still gazed over like he wasn't all there. "Time to have a talk Isobu." He said as Naruto and Hinata came forward and placed their hands on Yagura's arms, sending their chakra into his system and Kyuubi did the same. Naruto and Hinata even both had their doujutsu's active for this.

* * *

The next thing Naruto and Hinata knew they were in a white abyss. There was nothing to see, not even the ground on which they stood. They themselves were now showing their hanyou features undisguised. Behind them they saw Kyuubi in his full grown fox glory, and in front of them they saw what they could only hope was the Sanbi.

"Hey, that doesn't look that much like a turtle." Naruto said. "There's no bottom part of the shell and the top part looks more like a crab's shell. And it's face looks like its eyes are inside the mouth."

"Naruto-kun, it's still a bijuu no matter what it looks like." Hinata warned him, fearful of the creature attacking them. "And look at what's in front of him."

Naruto looked and saw Yagura before the Sanbi, only Yagura was laying on his right side chained up like a prisoner with a silhouette standing on top of him holding the chains like reins. And upon a closer look, some of the chains were also confining the Sanbi. "What's that? And where are we?"

**"We're in a shared mindscape, which is why this place has no features so one mind does not overpower the other."** Kyuubi told them. **"All bijuu can communicate with each other in a joint consciousness with each other if we want, and jinchuuriki can access the others this way too. Don't ask how, you're too young to fully understand. Just be glad we have this opportunity."**

"Great, so what do we do?" Naruto asked.

Kyuubi seemed to ignore him and looked more to his biju brethren. **"Isobu, why are you allowing your host to be controlled? Don't you realize how that makes you look?"**

The monstrous turtle looked away.** "Kurama, I'm glad to see a familiar face again."**

**"Then why can't you look at me? Admit it, you're ashamed to face me because you know I'm right." **Kyuubi countered.

**"Well where have you all been? Why did you leave me alone here? Even Yagura left me alone." **Sanbi asked, facing the fox again.

**"We can catch up later Isobu. Just tell me why you haven't been able to free your host."** Kyuubi insisted.

**"I haven't had the connection needed to."** Sanbi answered. **"Yagura has never embraced me. He never talked to me, never tried to learn from me, just took my power as his own and couldn't care less I was here unless he could use me. He treated me the same way his village treated him, something to scorn and torment but keep around to take advantage of. I tried getting him to open up to me instead, but he only cared about using me to become mizukage. Beyond that, I was nothing."**

**"That still doesn't answer my question."** Kyuubi stated.

**"Yes it does. I can't help him because he won't let me help him. He doesn't want me to help him. These chains binding me here, they aren't held by the genjutsu. They're held by Yagura."**

A second look showed that Yagura indeed held some chains in his own hands like reins and those chains were around the Sanbi. Now Kyuubi felt he had his answer. **'Hmm... so Isobu's host saw him as just a chakra battery for himself, likely due to resentment for living as a host. He must have found a way to suppress Isobu's will yet keep access to his chakra for himself. By refusing to have any form of bond between himself and Isobu, the host left himself vulnerable to outside influences. That must be how Namikaze's been able to dominate his mind for so long, and I'm guessing that shadow is the embodiment of the genjutsu. It even looks like Namikaze.'**

**"Naruto, Hinata, that host there will not let the Sanbi help him here, even in his time of need. We'll have to break the genjutsu ourselves then."** Kyuubi told them.

The two teens nodded and charged at the silhouette who looked like he had been waiting for them while Kyuubi tried to help his bijuu-brother.

* * *

The fight for Kiri was yet another example of why they were called the Bloody Mist, a nickname they had before Yagura took office but proved they deserved. The Kaguya clan were ripping people apart, the Yuki clan were freezing people, the Hoshigaki clan were fighting as fiercely as sharks, and the Hozuki clan were proving practically impossible to take down.

The body count was rising on both sides with clan fighting clan, Anbu fighting former Anbu, and even the Seven Swordsmen split apart are fighting each other. All the while, neither side was a clear winner but sooner or later one side will be the loser and that loser is going to die.

Kisame was fighting Yuge and Zabuza while his masked partner assisted him. The masked man seemed to have perfect aim with his kunais and moved too quick to be hit with either the kubikibocho or Yuge's kekkei genkais or nodachi. Kisame on the other hand had taken a few hits but nothing seemed to be hurting him, not in any way he couldn't ignore at least.

"Yuge-sama, perhaps you should try using one of your more effective jutsus." Zabuza suggested when they had a moment to spare.

"I had hoped we wouldn't have, to it appears we have no choice. Try to contain them if nothing else." Yuge said before putting away his sword and performing the necessary hand signs. "Lava Style Melting Apparition Jutsu." He exhaled a glob of hot magma that collected and hung in the air above them, ready to drop and incinerate anyone underneath it once he stopped supported it.

Kisame and his masked partner were underneath it and thus unable to jump away from it, but they could run. When they tried, Zabuza silently came in from behind and slashed their achilles tendons with his swords, forcing them to drop. He just barely managed to get out of the way before the magma dropped on the both of them, burning them alive.

"We got them." The Terumi clan head said.

"Did you?" A voice from behind said, making him turn around to see a katana pierce his chest. The one holding the sword turned out to be the masked guard of Yagura, and his eyes were now bright red with tomoes.

* * *

Naruto and Hinata were facing the toughest enemy they had yet to face. The silhouette was strong enough to keep a kage under it's thumb so two genin weren't going to give it any trouble. At least, they weren't supposed to be.

When they tried to attack it from a distance, a black wall formed in front of them. When they tried to attack it close up, it blocked all their hits then sent them back. The silhouette would then try to attack them by throwing black kunais that just came out of its arms.

"This is crazy! We can't even scratch that thing." Naruto complained, clutching a cut on his arm made by one of the silhouettes attacks. "Hey you, Mizukage! If it's not too much trouble could you maybe try something here too?"

"Naruto-kun look." Hinata whispered. Getting the blonde's attention she pointed. "The chains on him are black but the chains on the sanbi are silver. I think that's the work of the genjutsu. I don't think he can try anything right now." She paused to deflect an oncoming kunai with her juuken.

Naruto shook his head. "No, there is one thing he can do. Try and distract the shadow guy, I'll try to get this guy to do something. I know you can do it Hinata-chan."

Flattered and reassured by his praise she nodded and ran up to the silhouette, juuken ready. Since her opponent had no face she could easily envision her father in its place. 'Practice for payback for everything you did to me.' She said to herself, making her more motivated to fight at the top of her game. Which she did by giving it strike after strike. Sure the silhouette blocked but it wasn't able to fight back or target anyone else.

While Hinata did her part Naruto approached Yagura. Rather than try to remove the black chains confining him, he chose to look the mizukage right in the eyes. "Look pal, if you want to get out of this all you have to do is let the big turtle help you. I get the feeling he would if you just let him."

Yagura just looked at the whiskered redhead, his expression downtrodden and unconvinced. "Don't talk to me like it's easy. You know nothing about being a jinchuuriki." Naruto slapped him, getting a reaction out of him. "What was that for?" His hardened glare made Yagura take notice very quickly.

"I know full well what it's like to be a jinchuuriki. I used to have the Kyuubi inside me. Why do you think I got these ears and tails? People hated me for it. People lied to me and everyone had a plan to use me for themselves. But Kyuubi changed that for me."

"Used to?" Yagura asked, then he shook his head. "You lie. One does not stop being a jinchuuriki. It is a curse that haunts you for the rest of eternity. Down to the very last breath you take. Down to the very day you are judged before the gods. It will go with you even in the afterlife. Entwined with your soul, you can never escape them."

"It's only a curse if you let it be. You could let it be motive to be better, to be more than you could have been without it. My bijuu is helping me and I know your's can too, so why won't you let it?"

"Let it help me? That creature is the very thing that made my childhood traumatic " Yagura claimed. Pushing all the bad memories away he unsuccessfully tried lifting his hand to his face, remembering the painful stitching he had there. All because the medic nins wanted to hurt him and made sure a visible scar would be on his face.

"So you didn't have the best time as a kid. Join the club buddy. But it's not _his_ fault. He didn't ask to be sealed in you and he didn't go around telling others to treat you like a monster. He's as innocent as you are in that aspect, so why are you blaming him for everything?" Naruto shouted, pointing to the Sanbi who is hiding in his shell.

Yagura glared at Naruto then moved to face the Sanbi for a brief moment. "I had one of the most powerful and feared creatures in the worlds trapped and bound, with me having sole control over its fate. It felt nice being the one in control for once, and especially nice to be in control of such a monster. I wanted to put it in its place like others were doing to me."

"So you picked on him to compensate for others picking on you?" Naruto asked, bothered greatly by the idea.

"Oh like you can talk fox boy? Tell me the idea of having the Kyuubi under your foot has no appeal to you. Can you tell me you would never consider that?" Yagura challenged, thinking about his childhood again.

"Maybe in another life, but I owe him too much to do that. He saved me, he did for me what the Sanbi is offering you and I'm happier for it. I have my mother back, I have a real girlfriend now, I'm getting strong enough to protect them and myself, I'm away from those that wanted to hurt me, and someday I'll have a permanent home again. I came here to Kiri so I could save you from someone who wants to use all jinchuuriki and is already using you, but if this is who you are then maybe I should just kill you so he can't use you anymore."

"So what will you do then young boy? Kill me or spare me?" Yagura asked. "With everything that I went through you think I will start to trust Sanbi now? My life is ruined because of him. Why should I give him a chance to help me? Do _I_ even deserve such a chance?" Yagura sadly asked. Sanbi peeked out his head and looked at Naruto but when he looked at Yagura he frowned seeing his host sad.

"What do I deserve?" Yagura said quietly to himself, looking like he wanted to cry.

Naruto could not answer right away.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

'I'm not getting anywhere.' Hinata thought as she kept fighting the genjutsu silhouette. 'My arms are getting tired. I can't keep this up for much longer. Naruto-kun, whatever you're doing do it faster.'

Hinata finally had to pause for a moment to rest her arms but was ready to fight again if the silhouette resumed the fight. While resting, she tried to figure this out. 'My body's not here, just my mind so any fatigue I'm experiencing must be mental fatigue expressed as physical. Is this a sign that I'm not qualified yet to complete sage training? Am I holding Naruto-kun back?'

Her eyes widened. 'Wait a minute, why isn't the genjutsu fighting me or going for Naruto-kun right now?' The silhouette had yet to make a move in her pause or go after someone else. Instead it looked right at her with sharingan eyes. 'It's a genjutsu, not a living thing so it can't make choices of its own, only do what it was created for. Does it have no choice but to wait until we do something first?'

Testing her theory, Hinata took a step away from the silhouette. It did nothing but kept its eyes on her. She then smirked. 'Okay, this thing has a weakness now. I just gotta figure out what the limits to its power are.' Renewed, she began to attack again.

Meanwhile Naruto struggled to come up with an answer for Yagura. "Mizukage-sama-"

"Just call me Yagura. I don't deserve to be called 'sama'."

"Yagura, I don't know what you deserve, but there is one thing I do know that you need to hear." Naruto told him. "There is a man out there that wants to take over the world. He's going to use us to make that happen. By us I mean demon hosts like you and me. Part of his plan was to have you destroy Kiri so it would be one less obstacle for him later on, and for me to become some kind of lapdog without me even knowing it. He's been working on this for at least thirteen years, maybe longer, and unless people like us band together, he's going to succeed and we're going to die."

Yagura didn't respond but his eyes showed Naruto that he was listening. He continued to look at Naruto, noticing his eyes with rings in them. "You have the rinnegan. The eyes of the legendary savior of the world."

"Yeah, I'm Uzumaki Naruto-Kuramamaru, former jinchuuriki to Kyuubi no Kitsune. I'm no savior, not yet at least. The only ones I'm trying to save now are my fellow jinchuuriki."

"From this world conqueror?"

"I know it's hard to believe, and for me it was incredibly hard to accept. But I've seen the proof with my own eyes. I can prove it to you if you want when we get out of here." The former blonde told the mizukage. Standing firmly he watched the mizukage for signs of an answer, but Yagura just looked skeptical. "You may think I'm a fool for accepting help from my prisoner, but if it weren't for him I'd be some dead last in a village that only allowed me to be born so I could be a weapon for them. Who's the real mosnter then?"

"If they wanted you to be their weapon then why were you dead last? And why do you have fox tails?" Yagura interjected.

"They didn't want me to get too strong, not right away at least. They wanted me weak and stupid but capable of getting stronger when it suited them."

"My situation was different. Here in Kiri, strength is expected from a young age and jinchuuriki are no different. If anything the standards for me and my fellow jinchuuriki were higher." Yagura thinking back in his childhood with all the harsh training he went through. The training that he endured but in the end it was the training that kept him alive.

"Yagura, not to be rude, but we don't have all day to chat. We need to get you out of here, and I don't think you can do that until you give your partner a chance."

"Partner?" Yagura repeated, confused. "You mean Sanbi?"

"Yes, Sanbi" He pointed and both men looked towards the big turtle chained up behind Yagura. "He is chained up because you still won't let him do anything. Why not let him help you? Do you want to let the enemy get you?" Naruto sneered.

"But do I deserve-?"

"Yagura," Naruto got right in the mizukage's face. "Do you want to live or die?"

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata shouted just as he felt a kunai impact his left shoulder. He turned while grimacing in pain and saw the silhouette approaching him with a black sword it conjured out of nowhere.

Before it could hit him Kyuubi put his humanoid paw down to block the attack, taking the sword through his palm, if paws have palms that is, thus saving Naruto.

"What the heck?" Yagura said at seeing this.

"Thanks Kyuubi." Naruto said to the fox.

Kyuubi took the opportunity to grab the silhouette to keep it from attacking anyone else. With it trapped in his hand-paw, he looked to Naruto and Hinata. **"Try to sever its connection to the host. Maybe then it will go away."**

The two teens nodded and tried to break the black chains covering Yagura, which were still connected to the struggling silhouette in Kyuubi's hand-paw. But despite their attacks, the chains weren't breaking.

"Hinata-chan, do you know anything about breaking genjutsu? Because Konoha sure didn't teach me a damn thing about that." Naruto asked.

Hinata thought it over, remembering some lessons she received from her public guardian Yuuhi Kurenai. "One of the best ways to dispel a genjutsu in someone else is to send a strong enough pulse of your own chakra into the victim. This disturbs the genjutsu's hold over the victims senses and causes the genjutsu to collapse. But I don't know if that can work here."

"It's worth a try." Naruto said before placing his hands on Yagura directly, which Hinata imitated. They both tried a chakra pulse, but nothing seemed to change.

"What we're doing isn't enough. We might need to try something drastic." Naruto suggested, running out of patience.

"I have an idea." Hinata suggested, then knelt before Yagura. "Mizukage-san, what do you want? Ignore the what ifs and do I's, what do you want?"

The pink-eyed jinchuuriki thought it over for what felt like an eternity, but was probably only three seconds in the mindscape timeline. He knew that two half-foxes and a giant one were trying to free him but he didn't know if he wanted to be free, but one memory he had been suppressing for years came back to him in that span.

(Flashback)

A young Yagura was fighting an enemy ninja during the Third Shinobi War. He and his sensei had been assigned to destroy one of the oases in Land of Wind's desert thus hurting one of Suna's posts greatly in the war. The two of them were assumed to be enough, as he was the Sanbi jinchuuriki and his sensei was the Sandaime Mizukage, a man named Seoto Kurozame who had navy blue hair in a lax cut with sideburns, pale-blue eyes, muscular body, and wore a white-grey long sleeve shirt under a grey camouflage vest with pants the same color.

Disguised as Suna nin coming back to their village through a network of oasis outposts, the duo would destroy the one nearest to the borders of the country and delay the enemy army, the pair had been caught just outside the oasis and were forced to fight. It wasn't hard for the Kiri nin but Suna had the home-field advantage over the ninja who were used to fighting in wetter environments, as well as the number advantage.

The two Kiri ninja were undaunted and cut through them all, but just when it looked like the battle was over Suna revealed a surprise: A young prodigy of theirs by the name of Sasori. The young redhead had appeared right from under the sand and nearly killed them with an attack of countless senbon. The only reason they hadn't succeeded was that Yagura reflexively created some coral out of the sand to shield them.

"Impressive how you blocked my attack. But can you keep it up in such a dry place Kiri nin?" Sasori taunted with an amused smile.

The Sandaime Mizukage smiled, not the least bit worried. "Yes. There's a reason my nickname is the Moving Ocean." With that he released countless storage seals on his clothes and unleashed a huge amount of salt water, practically created an ocean right there in the desert, his chakra helping to keep the sand from soaking it up.

Sasori was caught off guard and had to stand on one of the trees of the oasis before he drowned. One thing they don't prioritize teaching in Suna was how to swim, even though they could walk on water.

Yagura pulled out his hookstaff and charged at Sasori who responded with one of his original puppets, one he liked to call the Crow. The humanoid puppet flew at the jinchuuriki and fired a barrage of senbon out of its mouth. Yagura put his hookstaff in the water and with it pulled up the water like it was putty. "Water Style Mirror Wall Jutsu." From out of the water emerged a duplicate Crow firing senbon at the original.

"Fighting a puppet master with a fake puppet?" Sasori asked. The fake Crow dispersed since it was a stringless puppet and could no longer be effective, but the original still took some damage. Nonetheless Crow came right up to Yagura and blades emerged out of the right arms, which were swung to try and cut Yagura.

He blocked with his staff. "You have no chance against Seoto-sama."

Before Sasori could reply he felt something grab his shins and hold on tightly, but the grip was inhuman. He looked down and saw octopus tentacles sticking out of the water, and looking into the water he saw a single giant octopus, clearly a summons for no such animal would be here normally.

Using his free hand Sasori grabbed a kunai and stabbed the tentacle holding his right leg. The injured limb let go but another took its place, and the octopus tried to pull him under. Sasori had no intention of getting wet though so he pulled back Crow and had it attack the octopus with a senbon attack. The octopus took the attack and withdrew but also looked mad.

"Did you really think some uncooked takoyaki would be the end of me?" Sasori taunted.

"That's not the threat you should be focused on." Yagura said as he rushed in, managing to get his large hook around the puppeteer's neck. Before Sasori could react his body was pulled up and over Yagura's in a loop, slamming him into the water.

Once he was in the water he felt two human hands grab him and pull him down. Turning his head Sasori saw Seoto, but he was different. His skin was reddish-white, not pink but more like scaled fish meat. The whites of his eyes were now a gross yellow with his pupils black as ink and his lips were a glossy brown, almost like they had turned to bronze. But the weirdest part of all was he now had six arms and not one of them appeared to have elbows anymore, rather they looked like noodles.

He had turned himself into a human-octopus hybrid.

Sasori hid his surprise well. 'So he made some changes to his body. Let him see the ones I made to mine.' With that he activated one of his hidden traps, a scorpion-like weapon attacked to his back made or a bladed whip he could maneuver just like one of his puppets.

Using his whip-tail Sasori tried to cut his captors arms off. Seoto reacted by spraying a cloud of ink, obstructing Sasori's view but not his weapon. When Sasori got out of the ink and reached the surface he didn't see the Mizukage, giving him time to try and stand on the water.

Immediately Yagura attacked with a barrage of coral kunais. He was standing on a coral platform he had created from the sand floating on the water so he had a ready source of the mineral at hand. Sasori took a hit and decided to go on the defensive. Taking out a scroll he unsealed another puppet, this one having a barrel-like body, one he called Black Ant.

"Good luck getting me now." The redhead Suna nin said before opening a hatch on the puppet and crawling inside its body cavity, closing it.

"It's just wood." Yagura said before firing more coral projectiles at the puppet. To his surprise they bounced off. "Okay, obviously a strong kind of wood." He noticed it was merely floating in the water, not being supported by chakra now. 'This puppet's probably just a shield, though it should have some sort of trick to it.'

One such trick became apparent when Crow proved still functional with Sasori in the Black Ant and tried to attack Yagura with blades on all four arms.

"Coral Wall." Yagura created a barrier made of his coral to take the hits. Sparks flew when metal met coral but neither were damaged. Nevertheless Crow kept attacking, until Seoto emerged from the water under the puppet and grabbed it, using his six tentacle-arms to pull the puppet arm. It came apart like a puzzle.

'That was too easy. It's almost like...' Seoto thought, realizing the trap too late as the pieces of Crow showed steel spikes that stabbed into him in several spots, making him yell out.

"Seoto-sensei?" Yagura said before taking his coral wall down to see the problem. He had enough time to see Sasori leave Black Ant and use Crow to lift Seoto into the air before dropping him into Black Ant, trapping him. "Release him right away."

Sasori smiled. "No problem, just after one little thing." With a flick of his wrist, Crow's parts drove into Black Ant fitting into slots and stabbing Seoto further. And if that wasn't bad enough, two blades could see seen slicing thru the center horizontally, silencing the cries of pain from within.

Yagura faltered, almost losing his balance enough to fall into the water. "N... no."

Sasori grinned and opened the hatch, dumping the sliced remains of the Sandaime Mizukage into the water. "Here you go, as promised."

Yagura grew enraged and red chakra started to cover him. "I'll kill you!"

The pink-eyed jinchuuriki must have blacked out because the next thing he remembered was being on his knees in wet sand as the sun was setting. The mini-sea Seoto had created was gone, evaporated or absorbed by the sand. Not only that, but Sasori was gone too. Yagura was mostly uninjured save for some cuts on his body and tears on his clothes, but he felt drained.

A severed hand in the sand snapped him back to reality. "Seoto-sensei!" He called out, hoping that against the odds his sensei was still alive. Getting to his feet he showered the landscape until he saw Seoto's head and upper torso but not much else. "SENSEI!" He all but screamed as he rushed up and got a closer look at the older man.

Seoto had been cleaved cleanly just below his lungs, and his blood was staining the sand. Because he had fused with one of his summons he hadn't died yet, but the strain of keeping himself fused was preventing him from healing. And to unfuse would kill him for sure. Yagura could tell that at best, the Sandaime Mizukage had minutes left.

"Yagura..." Seoto groaned, his fusion started to fall apart.

"Yes Sensei?"

"Remember... what I told you."

"What? Sensei you've told me many things." Yagura replied, confused.

"You'd be wise to remember them. But what you need to know the most is..." He coughed up some blood, frightening his student more with the chance that he'd die before he finished his last words. "Kiri needs to change. I want you to lead it into a new era... as the yondaime mizukage."

"Me?" Yagura asked. "But the village would never accept me. And if I told others what you said they'd never believe me."

"I have a notarized will. No one can dispute it. Upon my death you become my successor." Seoto said as his eyes returned to normal, meaning his death was getting closer.

"But... but how am I supposed to change Kiri?"

(End Flashback)

'Wait, why can't I remember what came next?' Yagura asked himself, finding his memory hazy all of a sudden. He struggled to make it come to him, but it couldn't. 'Kill those that oppose you', 'Purify it of those that have no place in our world', and 'Make the Bloody Mist bloodier' came to mind, but the voice wasn't that of his senseis. Not only that, when he heard those the silhouette chains on him grew tighter, almost cutting into him.

'Could the genjutsu be affecting my memory as well as my ability to control myself?' He asked.

As he asked himself that he saw Naruto and Hinata were back to fighting the silhouette, meaning it had gotten out of Kyuubi's hand while he was lost in memory. They were fighting in a joint style, indicating the two had trained together. They landed hits that appeared to disrupt the silhouette but it always recovered from the damage it took. Seeing them fight reminded Yagura of the times he fought alongside Seoto, and the animal features both had reminded him further of his late sensei.

"Why do you fight?" He called out.

Naruto responded without even looking back. "Because Kiri has to change." Thinking of Zabuza but also the others who are fighting to have Kiri change, not only a few people but the whole nation.

"And how are you supposed to change Kiri?" Yagura asked, wondering what their answer to his own dilemma was.

Hinata ducked under a strike and attacked the silhouette's legs, causing it to stumble. Naruto took the opportunity to tackle it and try to beat it down. Hinata meanwhile looked at the yondaime mizukage. "By trying to make it so hatred is no longer encouraged and rewarded. A lesson all the villages need to learn."

Yagura's eyes widened as Hinata's words made him finally recall what Seoto had really told him just before he died: "Quench the bloodlust. It was a mistake to make Kiri shinobi crave the blood of enemy and comrade alike. If it continues, Kiri will only dig its own grave with a sword."

'Seoto-sensei, you wanted me to stop the genocide, not reinforce it.' Yagura realized in shock.

"Hinata-chan, did you see that?" Naruto said, referring to the silhouette he was trying to pummel.

"Yeah, it sort of went out of focus for a second. What did that?" Hinata replied, trying to beat it while Naruto kept it down.

"I don't know, but that proves it's not invincible." Naruto stated.

"Boy, girl!" Yagura called out, and they briefly looked at him, seeing him now struggle against his chains. "I have your answer for you. I want to live, whether I deserve it or not."

"Then fight back with us." Naruto told him.

Yagura nodded. "I hope this works." He told himself before letting go of the chains he was holding that restrained the Sanbi.

With that the chains seemed to crumble into dust, allowing Sanbi to finally stand and move, much to the two bijuus surprise. **"I'm... I'm free?"** The giant turtle asked in disbelief.

**"Here maybe, I bet you're still trapped in your host though."** Kyuubi told him. **"Deal with that later. I think your host is finally asking you for help."**

Sanbi looked at Yagura then at the silhouette, which stared back at the three-tailed demon. Sanbi lifted one of his three shrimp-like tails and brought it down towards his target. The silhouette jumped aside just before the massive tail could crush it, but before it could land Naruto sneaked in behind it and punched it in the back hard enough to make it go right to the tail. The tail then curled around the shadow figure and lifted it up. Because of the chains Yagura was dangling right under it.

**"I really hate chains."** Kyuubi said casually as he reached out and used a claw to cut across them, not completely sure that would work. To his relief it did work and he caught Yagura before he fell too far.

On the ground Yagura wrestled out of his black chains, which were evaporating as he struggled. "Thanks everyone, but the problem's not over yet. The fight's still going on in the real world." He said as he straightened out his scarf. Sanbi meanwhile constricted the silhouette while burning it with his chakra until the thing fell apart, signifying the end of the genjutsu over Yagura.

"Do you think you-know-who will be able to know the genjutsu is gone?" Naruto asked Hinata.

"He might, I'm not sure. If he does he'll likely try to recast it and make it stronger than this one." She replied. "This genjutsu must have been designed simply to overpower the host and keep attempts to free him blocked, but it couldn't fight off a bijuu. Namikaze must have figured Yagura would never have let Sanbi help him even here. He won't make that mistake twice no less."

"I can't be Mizukage anymore. The war will not end as long as I live, the rebels want my blood too much to accept otherwise." Yagura commented, then looked like he got an idea. "Unless..."

* * *

"Yuge-sama!" Zabuza shouted when he saw his leader skewered by one of the Mizukage's guards.

'Why didn't my substitution work?' Yuge asked himself as he tried to get himself off the blade. What he didn't know was that Yagura had ordered all the training logs in Kiri destroyed so rebels couldn't use the substitution technique within village walls. The rebels never thought to bring new logs to use, but rather chose to rely on the ones already in Kiri they knew the locations of. By the time they realized their targets for the switch were just ash, it would be too late to escape or find something else to switch with.

The guard then knocked Yuge to the ground, pulling his sword out in the process. Yuge turned and tried to cover his wound, but doing so meant he had no free hands. Zabuza and another rebel immediately came to his side while a medic kunoichi tended to his wound.

"You don't actually think you can stop us or save him do you?" Kisame asked, confident they could only fail.

"Maybe not both, but definitely one or the other." Zabuza replied, both swordsmen staring each other down brandishing their trademark weapons.

"Momochi Zabuza," The other guard said, getting the eyebrow-less ninja to look at him, then he pointed at him as if to single him out. "Don't think you can win here."

Rather than respond Zabuza went in for a quick kill. Creating mist would have been pointless as Kisame too had been taught to fight in low visibility and offensive water jutsu wouldn't have been as effective against the fishman either. Kenjutsu was virtually his only option.

Swinging his sword at an open side he thought Kisame was a goner, but his sword was stopped. But that's not what bothered him. 'What? He was completely open, but my sword hit something other than him.' A couple of seconds after he felt Kubikirbocho collide with something he saw that Kisame had maneuvered Samehada to block. 'I felt the block before I saw it. What's going on?'

Kisame charged at him with a fist. "You're getting slow Zabuza." He taunted and Zabuza felt the punch before he saw the fist even connect, and it hit his gut in a spot he knew the fist wasn't touching once he did see it.

'That other guy got me in a genjutsu.' Zabuza realized as he backed away. 'He must have made it so my eyes don't process what I see as soon as I see it. Like everything I see already happened and I'm only now seeing it a few seconds too late to react properly.'

Using his ears Zabuza could tell Kisame was trying for another attack even though his eyes told him otherwise. Taking a chance he swung his sword low to catch his opponent's legs and cleave them right off. He did cut Kisame's calves but just enough to draw blood and cut the muscle, not enough to cut the bone.

His muscles cut, even Kisame had to stop moving but the momentum he already built up made him lose his balance and fall on his face. 'Dammit, I better heal fast.' He said as he started drawing chakra out of Samehada to undo the damage to his legs.

At that time Zabuza had to break his left pinky, something that wouldn't hinder his ability to hold a sword. But the pain did its job and snapped him out of the genjutsu on him. Seeing Kisame down he turned to see the other guard, who had already slain the two rebels around Yuge and was being blocked by Yuge using a metal arm guard.

The masked guard then pulled out a kunai with his free hand. Yuge blocked this one with his other hand, drawing blood but saving himself. The guard did not look impressed. "Foolish rebel, you're already bleeding badly yet not only to do you stop applying pressure to the wounds you create another on top of it. Do you wish to die?"

"If I can help my forces win then I'll gladly die for the rights of others to live in their own home." Yuge hissed.

"Yuge-sama no!" Zabuza countered, moving in for a kill strike on the guard who performed a substitution with the rebel leader, forcing Zabuza to strike Yuge instead of the guard. "N... no." Zabuza said in horror once he say what he had done.

"Looks like we're done here." The guard said before going to Kisame and shushining with him away.

"Yuge-sama, can you hold on?" Zabuza asked despite knowing the answer. Just from the looks of wounds it was a wonder the redhead man was still alive.

"No, I'm a goner." Yuge wheezed then coughed some blood. "Zabuza, two things. First, make sure the rebellion doesn't die with me. Help keep people's hopes up. Second, if we win, tell my daughter... I want her... to take... my... place..." With that he closed his eyes and passed on.

'Mei is not going to like this.' Zabuza thought before steeling his nerves to finish the fight for the rebels.

* * *

Mei herself saw a red-haired man take a hold of Yagura and push him into a submissive position while Naruto and Hinata were helping keep the pink-eyed jinchuuriki down. For a moment it looked like they were in a staring contest, then after a bit everyone seemed to relax.

But that didn't last long. Yagura ripped his arms out of Naruto and Hinata's grasp and started a quick set of hand signs. "If I'm going down you're going with me." Naruto and Hinata grabbed a kunai each to stop him but they were too late. "Water Style Condensation Destruction Jutsu."

Between Yagura's hand there was the beginning of an orb of water, steadily getting larger and brighter with chakra. When it got as large as a grapefruit the brightness from it began to pulse steadily, getting marginally brighter each time.

Mei paled, recognizing this from a scroll of jutsu the rebels had taken with them when they left to hinder the loyalists. This jutsu was a last resort tactic, to be more specific a suicide jutsu. What it did was collect moisture in the air along and condense it greatly, before it finally explodes with enough force to make every water droplet, and there were millions of them upon explosion, act like a senbon charged with wind chakra. With the castor being at point-blank range and unable to get away from it before it exploded, it was of course a suicide tactic.

'If that thing goes off we're all dead.' Mei worried, seeing the mists of Kiri being absorbed into the water ball. Kiri had enough moisture in its air to make this one have maximum damage potential. No one would survive if they were caught in it.

'I'm sorry kids, but if I don't do this then all our work will be for nothing.' Mei thought with a heavy heart as she prepared a jutsu. "Lava Style Molten Container Jutsu." She planted her hands on the ground, and around Yagura and those close to him a dome of magma burst from the ground and surrounded them. With this, the lava would stop the water blast, and only the people inside would die from it.

The lava dome held up but it quivered after a moment, making Mei think the jutsu bomb had gone off. 'With access to moisture cut off it couldn't get much bigger.' She thought, then was left with the quandary of withdrawing the magma or letting it drop and destroy the bodies. 'Maybe the kids can be saved.' She decided.

But before she could enact her intention, Zabuza came up to her. "Mei-sama, your father was just killed."

"What?" Mei asked in horror. And in that moment, her hold on the lava was lost, making the magma dome collapse rather than rescind. Saving any survivors inside it was now too late.

* * *

The battle for Kiri continued for another twenty minutes, and it was a brutal one. News of Terumi Yuge's death was spread and while it affected their morale it also boosted their desire to win. None moreso than Mei, who burned boiled and melted her way thru the kekkei genkai haters of Yagura's reign. News of Yagura's death affected their moral and desire to win too, but the Terumi bloodline overpowered them. Within twenty minutes, those still alive had conceded.

"It's over." Mei told the gathered rebels outside the Mizukage Tower when the loyalists had surrendered.

"Is the Yondaime dead?" One of the rebels asked.

Mei nodded. "Yagura performed a suicide technique that would have been the end of all of us. I stopped him from destroying Kiri but in the process killed himself and the two who helped make this invasion possible. We will probably never know for certain if he really was being controlled by a sharingan, but the important thing is that we have won. After all the blood shed and lives lost, Yagura's reign of terror is over."

Everyone cheered to their heart's content, unaware that outside the village two things were going on right then.

* * *

"Wow, it worked. Better than I thought it would."

Outside Kiri's walls stood Naruto, Hinata, and Kyuubi in human form, along with Yagura, none of them hurt from what Mei had seen. Yagura had indeed performed a lethal suicide jutsu but he canceled it as soon as Mei obstructed her own view with the lava dome. The kitsunes then reverse-summoned themselves to escape the dome while Yagura performed a substitution with something he left outside the village for just such an occasion. Naruto, Hinata, and Kyuubi then came back to confirm he had survived, but as far as Kiri was concerned, all four of them were dead.

"I told you it would work." Yagura said, proud that the plan he shared in the mindscape went off so well.

"But we can't stay here much longer or else everyone will know it was a ruse." Hinata pointed out.

"Where will you go?" Naruto asked.

"I don't know. I'm bound to be recognized sooner or later. I do want to go find my comrade Utakata and give him the warning you gave me. Maybe even give that brat Shinju a piece of my mind if I can keep my identity safe. I can only hope the threat you speak of hasn't gotten to him yet. From there, I'll probably just leave Mizu no Kuni and try to find a place where I can try and learn to put things right with Sanbi, as they should have been." Yagura answered. "What about you two?"

"We still need more training. And we need to find the other jinchuuriki and warn them." Naruto answered.

"I'll make it a little easier on you for that. I can tell you where some of the jinchuuriki are." Yagura suggested.

Both teens were surprised to hear that. "You can? How do you even know where they are?" Hinata asked.

"All villages have spy networks. I've learned a thing or two as Mizukage, including the identity of some jinchuuriki. One is in Taki, and two are in Iwa."

Hinata arched an eyebrow. "Taki? The Hidden Waterfall Village? Why would one of the minor villages have a jinchuuriki?" To the preteens it made no sense that such a minor village would get their hands on a biju but also know how to make a jinchuuriki no less.

"That was Hashirama's decision." Kyuubi pointed out. "I remember from Mito that he had almost been assassinated by a greedy Taki nin, and the Waterfall Village was in a panic over it. They were frightened that they were going to lose their ally and be at risk for war. Hashirama knew that the only way to settle their fears was a grand gesture, so he gave them the Nanabi as well as instructions on how to contain him. All he asked was for Taki to never use the jinchuuriki against Konoha and to treat the jinchuuriki with respect and kindness."

Naruto could not resist the scoff. "Yeah, I bet that happened."

Kyuubi looked at Yagura. "I already have a good idea which bijuu went to which village. What I don't know is the identity of their containers. Can you tell us anything in that regard?"

Yagura thought it over. "The two from Iwa are definitely male and older than me."

"No offense Yagura, but some people might think I'm older than you if they didn't know better." Naruto commented.

Yagura silently groaned but deep down he was glad to have someone talk to him like a person again. Something like that he missed greatly and wished to keep longer if he could. "I'll have you know I'm in my thirties little boy. I'm old enough to be your father."

Naruto frowned at the wording. "I have no father."

Sensing he should avoid the subject, Yagura cleared his throat. "Anyway, Taki would be the easiest to get to soon but the jinchuuriki would not be easy to identity. I'm not certain of their gender or skill, but I have heard they are young and I have reason to believe they're a girl. The two Iwa jinchuuriki I've personally met on the battlefield before so I can tell you exactly how to identify them. One is a redhaired guy with a beard called Roshi that uses magma and the other is a tall guy named Han who wore a suit of steam armor and can be best described as malicious. Here, maybe I should henge as them for you. Keep in mind these are based on how they looked years ago."

With that Yagura henged into a somewhat younger Roshi and Han respectively.

"Thanks Yagura, though actually finding these guys and the others is going to be difficult and get in the way of our training. Kyuubi-sensei, do you know any ways to communicate with the bijuu long-distance?" Hinata asked.

Kyuubi smiled. "As a matter of fact I do, but I'm afraid right now it wouldn't work. You see, when we're sealed away in humans those seals block off our shared mindscape so we can't communicate with each other that way until we're freed. We can get our jinchuuriki to help us access it with us, but it only works if they're in sync with us and the recipient is in sync with their bijuu as well. Under the circumstances we can't make that kind of connection unless we repeat what we did with Yagura and use our chakra on him simultaneously with Naruto using his rinnegan. So either way we'd have to find the jinchuuriki directly."

"Damn." Naruto muttered under his breath.

"Where should we go first?" Hinata asked.

"Back to Kuo. You two need to resume your proper training. Right now you'd be of no help to the other jinchuuriki beyond moral support, and that's not enough to save a life." Kyuubi told them.

"Yes Sensei." Both teens replied obediently.

"Anything else I can provide for you?" Yagura asked.

"Yeah, can you tell me anything about past interactions with Kiri and the Uzumaki clan?" Naruto asked. Wondering what the rebels didnt tell him, he hoped that Yagura might know something that can help his cause.

Yagura nodded. "Yes, I can."

* * *

"So the host is dead?" Kisame asked his partner, who took off his mask and revealed himself to be Uchiha Itachi in disguise.

"It would appear so, but I didn't sense any dissipating bijuu chakra. Did you?"

"I wouldn't know what to sense. How would you?" The fishman said as he sat down and worked on bandaging his sore calves. The bleeding had stopped and the muscles were mending, but the injury was still sore and the nerves were aching.

"I'll never forget that day when I was seven and the Kyuubi came to Konoha's doorsteps. I imagine that a bijuu dying would be similar to that sensation I got on that day." Itachi explained.

"Not quite." Kisame commented. "You felt a bijuu arrive, not a bijuu die. I imagine comparing the two would be like comparing the beginning of a storm to the end. Or an entry wound to an exit wound."

"Maybe you're right. Maybe it's no different than when a person or animal dies. The chakra just goes away, for a time at least." Itachi replied.

"But during that time that chakra is completely useless. We've got no way to gather it, nowhere to put it, and nowhere to transport it." Kisame noted.

Itachi nodded. "Indeed. It appears all we can do is wait for the Sanbi to revive itself and capture it then when it's vulnerable."

"Leader-sama isn't going to like this." Kisame groaned, standing up and testing if his feet could handle the weight of his body. So far they could. "He might even say we failed our mission in protecting the host until it was time to bring him in. Not only that, Kiri's back on the road to recovery and could be a problem by the time the Sanbi returns. If I were Leader-sama, I'd say we screwed up big time here."

"Perhaps. Maybe we should perform a little extra here to make up for our incomplete objective. Maybe even get rid of the Daimyo to throw the country into anarchy even if only for a short time?"

Kisame chuckled. "Personally I think leaving that girl in charge will cause more problems then killing her will, but you know what? I'm still in a mood for some blood so I won't object. Hunting down the other jinchuuriki is pointless for the time being so we might as well have some fun making life hard for the rest of the world."

"Actually, maybe we should contact Leader-sama so we can make it up to him properly."

Kisame just looked at his partner. "You're losing your backbone now?"

Itachi shook his head. "Not at all. Your phrasing just a while ago made me consider that maybe we need to report right away rather than risk going too far and possibly compromising future plans of his."

Kisame shrugged. "Alright but you do it. I'm not in the mood for reporting. You talk to the big guy and I'll go get us some real sake before we leave. If I'm not going to be home for a long time I'm getting one last drink before I leave."

The fishman then left, walking moderately, and Itachi used his ring to contact another member of the Akatsuki. After a moment a hologram appeared in front of him of a man's silhouette, lacking all features except the outline and the man's eyes, which were dark black right now.

"Ah Itachi, what's the occasion?"

"I have bad news to report. The civil war in Kiri ended much sooner than anticipated. I believe somehow the rebels got access to someone very talented in genjutsu and was able to disrupt your genjutsu on the Mizukage."

"What?"

Itachi nodded. "The Mizukage was in the battle directly, and unfortunately I was occupied with the rebels so I could not get back to him before he enacted a suicide jutsu. That leads me to believe the genjutsu you placed on him faltered and in his horror he wanted to kill himself before you returned. Even if I had gotten to him in time, we both know I only had the power to prolong and reinforce the genjutsu, not recreate it."

The hologram nodded. "True, that was why I had you cover for me while I had to take care of some business Itachi."

"How goes the hunt for the Kyuubi jinchuuriki Tobi-sama?" Itachi asked, knowing that the 'good boy' of the Akatsuki was the real leader, even if he had no idea who Tobi really was. He thought it was a fellow Uchiha, not someone masquerading as one.

"Fruitless. Wherever he is he is hiding good. Too good to be unassisted. Konoha was left specific instructions regarding the handling of the jinchuuriki so there is no way the boy could be good enough to have escaped on his own for this long and take another with him. The problem remains that we have no leads in the search."

"Sir, is it at all possible that the Kyuubi itself is assisting the jinchuuriki?" Itachi asked.

The hologram was silent for a moment. "I suppose it's not impossible, but I don't see how it could be true. Bijuus aren't exactly subtle creatures, not to mention the boy still had to do the act of leaving. The most likely answer is those lousy insurgents who support jinchuuriki rather than dominate them. Some of them had to move the boy somewhere safe. We just can't find out where yet."

"What about Orochimaru? He could have done it."

"Hmm... you may be on to something there Itachi. But if he isn't a part of this, then approaching him would alert him that there is a free jinchuuriki out there. Can you find a way to see if he has the boy without him knowing you're there?"

Itachi thought it over for a second. "I am not sure. I know he failed to defeat me once, but he might have something new up his sleeve this time. If I do this, I will have to approach this with caution rather than speed."

"Very well. And with the death of my puppet Mizukage I'm afraid the Sanbi will not be around for a number of years so we will have to postpone our efforts to capture the jinchuuriki. I'll get Nagato to continue the search but limit efforts to just search and monitor until we have reason to believe the Sanbi is back in the world." It was quite clear that 'Tobi' was not happy by these events.

"I'll do my best Tobi-sama."

"Actually Itachi, let me do this job. I could use something to take my mind off this."

Itachi was surprised. "You're going to go see Orochimaru yourself?"

The hologram nodded. "Yes. I believe I can handle him quite effectively." His voice held a hint of mirth, like he had something in mind he couldn't wait to see happen.

* * *

"Umm... Orochimaru-sama?" A young boy said to the rogue sannin days after the civil war in Kiri ended.

"What is it Zaku?" Orochimaru asked, annoyed that he had been interrupted before indulging in one of his more normal past times, working on a crossword puzzle. Yes even Orochimaru sometimes had to take a break from being a researched and mad scientist and do something normal to keep himself from going crazy. Sinister he may be, delusions of grandeur too, but he wasn't crazy (his mother had him tested) and he intended to stay that way.

"Someone's here to see you. He says it's about Konoha."

That certainly got the pale sannin's attention. Being more curious than cautious, he put down his crossword puzzle and stood up. "Show me this person."

Zaku led the man who saved him from cold homelessness to outside the underground base. Before they got outside Orochimaru created a mud clone and put a recording device on it, so in case anything happened he'd get a record of what was said.

The clone went outside and saw a masked man leaning against the wall. After a moment he recognized the outfit right away. "Why is someone from Akatsuki here?"

"I just thought I'd tell you that Konoha's vulnerable right now." The masked man told him.

"Why should I believe you?" Orochimaru asked, knowing that Akatsuki wouldn't go out of their way to help him.

"You shouldn't, but maybe you'll listen to your spies in Konoha. I just thought I'd get your interest up again. Best time to strike is the chuunin exams. What better time to get into a shinobi village?" The masked Akatsuki member said before disappearing. Not by shushin or substitution, he just vanished.

'That was weird.' The clone said before going back to the original and dissolving.

Orochimaru soon listened to the recording, however brief it was. "That was weird, but it is worth a look into."

* * *

"Hokage-sama?" A toad asked as it appeared on Sarutobi's desk.

'So close.' The old man rued as his hand was millimeters away from reaching his Icha Icha, but now he drew it back. "Yes. Any word from Jiraiya or Yondaime-sama?"

"Namikaze-sama says he has found no trace of the missing boy. But he has an idea. He intends to make something happen that will hopefully force the boy to come back to Konoha."

Sarutobi arched and eyebrow. "I'm listening."

"The boy may have left Konoha, but for years he was ingrained to feel a sense of love for it. It's unlikely that has been completely obliterated. So if the boy believed Konoha was in trouble, likely a great kind of trouble, then he should feel compelled to do something about it." The toad explained.

Sarutobi thought it over. "Understandable, but highly risky. There's no guarantee the boy would do anything. If anything he might just leave Konoha alone more and let it suffer."

The toad nodded. "True, but that works for your benefit as well. Namikaze-sama feels that if a disaster of great proportion were supposedly befalling Konoha, the boy should inquire about it in some way, giving your ninja a greater chance of finding him. And if not, you can use the crisis and say an enemy just happened to acquire some form of proof that the boy is Namikaze's son and it conveniently made it's way to Iwa."

Sarutobi smirked. "So, Naruto either comes back thus exposes himself to us or we send Yondaime-sama's enemies after him to look for us and eliminate the problem for us. It's good, though in the latter case we risk loosing the Kyuubi."

"It will reform and be vulnerable to being resealed." The toad reassured.

"So how do we get Naruto's attention?" Sarutobi asked.

"Namikaze-sama is already on that. He is going to set up an invasion."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

When they got back to Kuo, the first thing to happen was informing Kushina on what had happened to the two teens during their absence. Naturally she was surprised by the majority of it, appalled by some of it, and proud of the two for other parts of it.

"Were you able to get closer to using senjutsu?" Kushina asked.

"I'm not sure. We didn't succeed in using it but we didn't really have many chances to try after we got caught up in everything." Naruto answered.

"But we did get in some valuable experience and I think we learned a few things about what we want to do with the skills we gain here." Hinata added.

"True." Kushina said then sighed crossing her arms, looking like she wanted something she couldn't have. "I wish my sensei could be contacted. He'd be able to help you guys."

"Who was your sensei Okaa-san?" Naruto asked.

"I was taught by other Uzumaki for most of my life because of the segregation against us when I was growing up, but my one true jounin sensei was the sannin Orochimaru."

That sure caught the two teens off guard. Kushina had been Orochimaru's pupil? _The_ Orochimaru, who even in the portfolio was described as terrible? Granted Sarutobi barely mentioned him at all in the log on Naruto's development, but the few times the snake sannin was mentioned it wasn't favorable.

Just the rumors and stories alone spread all around Konoha were enough to make him sound like the last person you'd want to be around. In fact some parents use his name and stories to scare their children into behaving.

"Okaa-san, why would he help us? Everyone in Konoha knows he's a horrible person." Naruto asked.

Kushina gave her son a firm maternal look. "Like how everyone in Konoha knows you're a demon or Namikaze is a hero?"

Naruto had the good grace to look sheepish, but Hinata looked surprised. "Are you saying he isn't really a traitor?"

"I don't know what he's done since I died, but I can tell you when I was your age he was a good man. He had been assigned to watch over me when I was in the academy and for a while after I was made his apprentice rather than assigned to a team. He said the Sandaime felt I would learn more from a jounin that wasn't distracted by other students too and Orochimaru-sensei was the most qualified jounin he knew. Not to mention his favorite student."

"No offense Okaa-san, but considering who the Sandaime really is, hearing Orochimaru was his favorite doesn't really make me like him more." Naruto stated.

"That's just it. I think Sarutobi made Orochimaru my sensei because he thought his favorite student would be blindly loyal to him and ensure my training went in the way he wanted it to. What he didn't count on was Orochimaru-sensei having his own ideas on what was best for me."

"You mean he rebelled against his sensei and hokage to help you?" Hinata asked.

"I'm not sure. Sometimes the student always follows the sensei and sometimes the student branches out to take their own path. I know this mess we're in started with Namikaze but as we have written here Sarutobi had anti-Uzumaki ideas as well so for now we can't be certain what was really going on. Maybe Orochimaru-sensei was following orders or not, but I do know one thing, just before he stopped being my sensei he warned me about the old man."

"He did? What did he say?" Naruto asked.

"I can't exactly remember. I was a little older than you are now when it happened and I was too confused to take it seriously so my memory is more than a little hazy on it. The gist of it was that Sarutobi had plans for me, but the exact message is one I've pretty much forgotten."

"Maybe that's for the best." Hinata suggested. "I mean, it's not like Orochimaru would help us or anything and we already know the truth about Konoha so does it really matter what he said?"

Kushina thought it over. "Maybe, but I still suspect that he knows something we could use. Maybe we should locate him and find out for sure."

"How?" Naruto asked.

"I have no idea. It was mostly conjecture. Luckily I signed the contract while you were away so I can go with you if I have to and come back here."

"For now it's not important. What's important is preparing these two for future fights with those serving Namikaze." Kyuubi reminded everyone. "You two got in some more experience now like we wanted. Now with that we can resume senjutsu training. I want you two to run twenty laps around Kuo without leaving it or stopping while trying to sense for natural chakra. After that, I'm going to instruct you two on a jutsu that should make getting people to your side much easier to accomplish."

"What's that?" Naruto asked.

"The best way to get people on your side is to have them listen to you. And the best way to get them to listen to you is the same way I got you to listen to me." Kyuubi answered.

"I don't understand."

"You will when I show you. For now, resume your exercises."

"Right Kyuubi-sensei." Both teens said before heading off to the border.

"I was worried for a moment that Naruto was going to ask about us." Kyuubi told Kushina.

"Me too. Not an easy thing to admit to him, but I think he might take it well when we do." Kushina replied.

"Perhaps, but we should tell him slowly" said Kyuubi. Kushina looked to Kyuubi confused while the nine-tailed kitsune sighed, wondering how Naruto is going to take it. 'He just got his mother back in his life and now he has someone else too. But with everything going around, what does he think the role of a father is supposed to be?'

* * *

"So you want to work here? Do you have any skills in healing... Haku-san?"

"Yes, though I'm no expert. I have been educated in ailment relief but could not get proper training before. Since I need a job here in Konoha I thought I'd start here." The ice user told her interviewer.

"True, but why here in a vet clinic? Why not at the hospital? Do you not have experience in caring for people?" The interviewer, Inuzuka Hana asked. Right now Haku was applying for a job at Konoha's vet clinic and the two girls were in Hana's office alone, with only Hana's three ninken for company.

"I have practice in treating both, but I suspect that training for a doctor is expensive unless you gain an apprenticeship of a sort and I'm not exactly interested in being a medic ninja."

"You do realize we use medical ninjutsu here as well, just to treat animals, right?" Hana asked.

"I considered that, but veterinarians aren't called to battle as often as medic nin so I get a better sense of peace and stability here." Haku stated.

Hana nodded. "By comparison yes, though when war breaks out we fight like the rest and are required by law to have some healing skills designed for humans too. Which means even if you're hired here you'd have to spend two days a week working at the hospital like I do too."

"I did not know that. Oh well, nothing I can't live with."

Hana looked over Haku's list of qualifications again. "I do have an opening and you seem to be the only one applying who actually has some idea of what they're doing, but I'm not sure if I should agree. One problem is the fact that since you just came here you don't have any references."

"In a way, I have one. A man called Inuzuka Gao." Haku added.

Hana tensed and looked at the brunette with cautious yet curious eyes. "Where did you hear that name?"

"From a trusted source. I've heard good things about Gao-san. Do you know him?"

Hana heart skipped a beat hearing the name. "He was my father, rest his soul."

"How did he die?" Haku asked.

Hana looked away. "It depends on who you ask. Most people just say he left one day, couldn't handle my mother anymore, but I know the truth. I know he was killed." She then realized something and looked at Haku suspiciously. "You didn't answer my question, how do you know about him?"

"My trusted source who shall remain nameless until I know you can be trusted with the name told me before I left Nami no Kuni. He had proof with him that Inuzuka Gao had resisted orders from the Hokage that would have one day killed an innocent person had they been followed. And for resisting the orders, Gao-san was removed as head of his clan and replaced by his wife who supported the orders."

Hana now leaned back in her chair. "You are either very brave Haku-san or very, very stupid. You've basically admitted to having confidential evidence that defames the leaders and clan heads of this village that should not be known to someone from outside the village that did not have a connection to it. And even if I ignored that, I can sense your chakra levels to be above civilian level, between chuunin and jounin if I'm not mistaken."

"Then why not arrest me right away?" Haku asked, not at all afraid.

"I was trying to figure out your angle. You could easily be an enemy spy or sleeper agent sent in, that's the obvious choice. And working here gives you a good cover, since no one would suspect a vet assistant as a spy, while still giving you access to somewhere you have influence, like the hospital. But you revealed too much, which tells me you're either a bad actress or trying to get my attention somehow. So enlighten me on what your goal is. I assure you I'm much gentler than the guys at T&I are."

Haku smiled. "Alright then, but this is for your ears only. The evidence suggests that before your father was killed that he gave you some important information. Information that for... biased reasons has kept you confined to Konoha and limited your mission quantity, with your promotion to chuunin being hard-earned even by ninja standards, am I right?"

Hana tightened her jaw but then sighed in defeat. "I can't prove it, but that's what I think. The higher-ups are worried that Otou-san 'infected' me with his way of thinking but they can't prove it so they basically keep me on a leash, or stuck here like I'm in a kennel. I've gotten used to it but I know that they're waiting for me to show my true colors. Only reason I'm still alive is because they hope I'll join their side."

Haku leaned forward just a bit. "What if I told you that I was on the same side your father was on?"

Hana leaned forward too. "I'd say that implies you know what issue is dividing people into two sides to begin with. And it implies you came here for more than just a job. You're hoping to get on my good side and convince me to join your side."

"Do I really need to convince you Hana-san?"

The Inuzuka heiress smirked just a bit. "Honestly, no. I'm a much better actress than you. I've been on this side for a long time. No one can prove it, which is why I'm still alive. Plus I think my bitch of a mother is more soft to me than she'd like to admit." Hana muttered at the end, thinking about her mother and the rift the two of them had.

"And here I thought Inuzuka's didn't like the b-word." Haku commented.

"Depends on the context, and it fits here in my opinion." Hana said then leaned forward more and continued in a whisper. "Tell me, is your trusted source Uzumaki Naruto?"

"I take it you don't plan on arresting me then." Haku stated, still unafraid. In fact she felt comfortable.

"Heck I'm planning on hiring you right now if you can tell me where he is and if he's safe. The rest of us really want to know what's going on with him."

"You mean all the people in Konoha who support him despite what the hokage wants for him?" Haku asked.

Hana nodded. "Yes, Hokage-sama expects total loyalty, and Okaa-san is the same, but Otou-san once told me not everyone in the pack follows the alpha. Me, I believe you should follow someone based on where they're going, not by their rank, even if that rank is kage. And a kage that would come up with a plan like this needs to be put down. The only problem is it's easier said than done to fix this problem."

"It's being covered. Naruto-kun is taking the first steps. I'm here to let you guys know how he's doing and let him know what you're doing." Haku said.

"So you're our link to him? Well then that settles it for me. You're hired. You'll start tomorrow, but I've already got a job you can do tonight. I need you to come with me tonight so we can arrange your terms with the hospital too. I know just the doctor to speak with about this."

Haku nodded. "Good."

"But for future times, please be more careful in how you say what you know. You do realize that had I been a part of the Hokage's plan you'd be dead by now right? You're just lucky that I'm not."

"Rest assured Hana-san, or I should say Hana-sempai now, that I knew exactly what I was doing. I said what I said to get you to steer the conversation that way first since that way you'd be more willing to hear me out, and I knew from Naruto-kun that you had interacted with him in a good way more than once so that combined with what I heard about your father made me confident that I was taking no risk." Haku explained.

"There's a fine line between confidence and arrogance Haku-san." Hana warned carefully to the young teen. "By the way, where is Naruto now?"

"I'm not sure, but I hope he's making a difference."

* * *

Suna, the Village Hidden in the Sand, was not exactly the most charismatic village in the Elemental Nations. In fact it had a reputation as being the weakest of the Five Great Villages, only barely stronger than any of the minor ones. Some even theorized that the only reason it was allowed to be one of the Five Great Villages was because of the funding that had gone into creating it, given the wealth of the Wind Daimyo at the time. Had that not happened, Suna might not have risen as high as it had to it's current power. In fact, most said the only reason the village hadn't been destroyed yet was because of the surrounding desert and the huge home-field advantage they got in it.

Suna shinobi themselves didn't mind the insulting reputation they had. In fact by now they had learned to use it to their advantage. Because the other villages considered them inferior, they usually didn't waste their time or money spying on it or fight Suna nin at full force in battle. In short, everyone underestimated Suna and in the ninja world that was the worst thing to do. But if you were underestimated, you could use that in your favor for obvious reasons.

In all of Suna, only one ninja didn't care whether he was underestimated or overestimated. That was Sabaku no Gaara, youngest child of the Yondaime Kazekage and the current jinchuuriki of the Ichibi no Tanuki. He didn't care what anyone thought of him, all he cared about was if they could prove he was alive.

Or at least, that's what he wanted to believe. Gaara did in fact care what people thought of him. The fact that he believed his entire existent could only be based on his interactions with others proved this. He had also been alone a lot, even from his family. He was basically an orphan that still lived with his family. He had gotten used to this and learned to live with it, but that didn't mean he liked it. He just tried to delude himself into believing otherwise to make living with it easier to bear.

Like most nights Gaara was out on a random rooftop looking at the stars, waiting for the night to end. It was quiet and windy, and like most nights in the desert practically freezing. His sand armor provided him some insulation and protection from the wind, but it only reduced it down to a chill. Gaara didn't mind the cold though, in a way it too reminded him he was alive.

'I'm bored, maybe I should go kill someone.' He briefly thought, then closed his eyes. 'No, I kill for many reasons, but boredom is not one of them. If I do that I will run out of blood for Mother too soon.' With that he settled for another thing he liked to do on his sleepless nights. He headed for his personal cactus garden to tend the ones that bloomed only at night. Night gardening was a pretty good time-killer for a permanent insomniac.

"Wow, those look pretty good." Someone complimented Gaara shortly after he got to the garden and checked the cactus flowers.

Caught by surprise Gaara quickly turned around but restrained his sand. Thanks to his ultimate defense Gaara felt no need to be a 'shoot first ask questions later' kind of shinobi. But his sand was as ready as ever to kill.

The one who had approached him from behind turned out to be a boy with red hair, much like Gaara himself. Their ages were likely even the same. He had purple eyes and whiskers on his cheeks, but the only thing he wore that was visible was a beige cloak used for warmth. This boy smiled at Gaara, making the ring-eyed boy uncomfortable since no one smiled at him.

"What do you want?" Gaara asked rudely, waiting to see if this boy wanted to die or not.

"I need to deliver a message to someone here in Suna. I'm looking for someone with an unusual chakra signature and according to my sources your's stands out the most." The boy then held out his hand as if offering to shake it. "Call me Naruto."

Gaara did not return the gesture. "I'm Sabaku no Gaara. What do you want?" He repeated.

"Let me ask you something first, do you ever feel like people think you're a monster?" Naruto inquired.

Gaara's eyes hardened. "That's none of your concern."

"I'll take that as a yes. And unless I'm wrong it _is_ my concern."

"Go away." Gaara said, feeling uncomfortable.

Naruto shook his head. "Trust me Gaara, you _want_ to hear what I have to tell you."

Gaara looked mad now instead of just annoyed. "Don't you tell me what I want." With that he let some sand out of his gourd and sent it at Naruto, intent on decapitating him quickly.

Naruto quickly ducked under the sand tendril. "I'm not here to fight you Gaara."

"Then die quickly, or else I'll force you to fight me." The Suna genin stated, using more sand for a follow-up attack. It might have actually hit Naruto this time, had it not automatically redirected itself to protect Gaara from a surprise attack from someone else. 'He's got back-up somewhere.' The attack came so quickly he hadn't seen what exactly it was, but it left nothing behind so he didn't have a clue of what to expect next aside from the direction it came from.

"Gaara, I'm here to warn you that someone wants to kill you."

Gaara didn't even blink. His face remain emotionless like it always is knowing something like this always happen but seeing this new person here. He wonders why did he come out of his way "Tell me something I don't know."

"He's after the reason you're called a monster." Naruto added.

"What do you mean 'the reason'?" Gaara asked, finding himself curious.

"Gaara, you have been scorned right? Looked at like people hate the fact you were born?" Naruto asked, and Gaara nodded. "Didn't you ever wonder why?"

"I know why. My mother's spirit resides in the sand and protects me from pain but also forbids me from sleeping."

"Gaara, that's not your mother controlling the sand. I mean, what mother would forbid her son from being able to sleep?" Naruto responded.

"How should I know? My mother died when I was born." Gaara replied.

"Mine too. But even I knew that if my mom let me be born it wasn't just so I could be miserable."

"What do you know about misery?"

"I can show you if you want." Naruto offered.

"Not interested. Just die and prove my existence." Gaara said before sending more sand at Naruto. He jumped out of its way but Gaara was ready for that and had it follow him, managing to wrap around him. What Gaara wasn't ready for was being wrapped up in chains from behind. "What on earth?" The chains tightened and his sand armor fought against it but that only made the chains tighten more.

"Now son!" Kushina called out from behind Gaara, holding the chains while trying to send chakra through them to suppress Gaara's own even if only for a moment. Chains that could suppress the chakra of the Kyuubi shouldn't have any difficulty suppressing that of another bijuu.

The sand laxxed and Naruto got free, then he came up to Gaara with his right palm out. "Kitsune Art: Forced Memory View Jutsu." His hand glowed red and he placed it on Gaara's forehead, making the Suna boy groan as if hurt. Naruto winced as well and both closed their eyes.

At this site the words of Kyuubi went through Kushina's mind. 'Remember how I showed you my memory of the night I was sealed in you Naruto? That's a kitsune jutsu and as such one you can use too. You can use this jutsu to show your memories of your own past to others, and in doing so hopefully convince the other jinchuuriki to listen to you in a much easier way than you could with Yagura. However, it works best when the other person accepted seeing your memories, like how you allowed yourself to see mine. If you encounter someone who refuses to listen to you, you can force them to see your memories, but there's a drawback. You will be forced to see any number of their own as well.'

'My son's going to force this boy to hear him out, but he's going to see just how bad Suna treats their jinchuuriki too.' Kushina told herself, worried about what Naruto would experience.

* * *

While this was going on Hinata was covering the perimeter, using her byakugan to see if anyone would come interfere with them. Kushina came along to assist in the event of a fight, but Hinata's role was to see how likely a fight was to happen and warn them if it was inevitable.

'Strange, there are no Anbu in this part of Suna. Almost like they're making a point of not being here. Why?' She gave it some thought. 'Some of the Anbu here must be sensors and can tell where the jinchuuriki is and alert the Anbu to his whereabouts, like how people in Konoha were able to track down Naruto-kun when they wanted to torment him. Only these ones are deliberately staying away. Do they fear the jinchuuriki more than they hate him?'

Through her byakugan she saw Naruto and Kushina trying to restrain Gaara. 'I hope this doesn't alert the Anbu. We need to act fast and leave quickly.' Something on the edge of her vision range caught her attention. 'Wait, what's that?'

* * *

The jutsu stopped and the two boys parted. Gaara was wide-eyed and gasping while Naruto just shivered a bit. Kushina was ready for anything in case Gaara was still in the mood to fight.

Gaara looked at Naruto and stabilized his breathing. "Is that for real?"

Naruto nodded. "Yes, it's all true. Konoha's Yellow Flash is going to come kill you any day now. Even you can't be stronger than the Iwa army Gaara, so you can lose to him."

"Then what hope do I have of survival?"

"One of us cannot beat him, but maybe all nine of us can. If we prepare ourselves for it that is and join together." Naruto stated.

Gaara nodded. "I'm in. As much as I enjoy the idea of fighting the strongest person ever in order to prove my existence once and for all, even I know that such a man could just as easily end my existence instead."

"What do you mean prove your existence?" Kushina asked.

"I think I understand." Naruto said, then looked at Gaara sympathetically. "I saw your memories too." Seeing some of Gaara's memories made Naruto relive his own memories of Konoha. "Your family is still alive but they won't acknowledge you. You can't make any friends of any kind. You can't even sleep because of that seal on you. You've had to kill people just to stay alive, and thus you see no other way to make yourself feel important even to yourself." Gaara sadly nodded. "But there is hope for you. I had Hinata-chan even without knowing it. Maybe there are people here who want to help you but you're scaring them off. Maybe they'll still help you if you let them."

"But who?" Gaara asked.

"You have a family, that's a good place to start." Naruto suggested.

"If the seal on him is forbidding him from sleeping I should take a look at it and see what's wrong. It sounds like a defective seal which makes keeping the bijuu contained even more risky." Kushina commented.

"What's a bijuu?" Gaara asked, not truly familiar with the term since to him Shukaku was said to be a deranged monk's ghost.

"Let's just say that spirit in you giving you control over sand isn't really your mother." Naruto explained. "It's actually a demon that others trapped inside you, expecting you to become a weapon for them by using it. Whether or not you wanted it or could handle it was none of their concern."

Hinata suddenly came into view. "Naruto-kun, Kushina-sama, something's going on I think you should know about."

"What's that?" Both aforementioned people asked.

"There are two people of high chakra levels at what I assume is the Kazekage tower. I believe one of them is the kazekage himself, but that makes me cautious about who the other is. I almost suspect the second person to be another kage visiting."

Kushina didn't like the sound of that. "Konoha is allied with Suna so in that case it's entirely possible that it's the Hokage or even Namikaze."

Right away Naruto and Hinata tensed up, knowing either of those options were bad.

"I couldn't identify either chakra source, but I assume the Kazekage Tower may be protected in some way that could affect my doujutsu." Hinata added.

"Not impossible. Konoha and Uzushio aren't the only places to make use of fuinjutsu." Kushina commented. "Just to be sure, I should take a closer look."

"What? Why should you do that?" Naruto asked.

"If it is one of our enemies then we can learn how involved Suna is or will be. The file says nothing about Suna at all, which is strange considering Konoha is allied with it instead of Kiri, which _was_ mentioned." Kushina stated.

"So? Maybe Suna's not involved at all." Naruto suggested.

"Not yet, but what if that changes?" Kushina asked.

* * *

"I must admit I'm surprised you wished to see me, Orochimaru-san."

"I admit an equal amount of surprise that you accepted my request to meet Kazekage-dono."

"Oh, and why's that?"

"Any number of reasons. I'm listed as a fugitive so that should be a red flag to you if nothing else." The snake sannin told the leader of the sand village.

"That's why I didn't even consider this unless you came here, where I have the home-field advantage and support of my ninja were you to try something foul." Kazekage claimed.

"I know all that, and the fact I let you have all this without even trying to bargain for some circumstances in my favor should show you I did not come here to do you harm." Orochimaru insisted.

"That was foolish on your part, but enough about that. Tell me why you so desperately needed to speak with me."

"Oh I wouldn't say this was desperately needed, but let's have it your way. You see, we have a mutual enemy, Konoha, and I think we should do something about it."

Kazekage raised an eyebrow. "Konoha is our ally, not our enemy."

"Are they?" Orochimaru asked.

Kazekage immediately sensed this was a baited question. In all his years being the Kazekage he has seen the Wind Daimyo outsource jobs and resources to Konoha and Hi no Kuni. Resources that should stay in Kaze no Kuni, which is why he didn't brush off the question in the first place. "What are you getting at?"

"Your daimyo keeps stripping away the missions your village needs to stay funded in favor of giving them to Konoha. Even after lowering your prices he still prefers them over you. But worst of all, Konoha accepts all of them without any pause. Konoha has not once asked for your daimyo to give your village more consideration. Instead Konoha is taking them all knowing full well your village is struggling to make ends meet. Does that sound like something an ally would do?"

"Hmm... you've got a point. But it doesn't exactly make them our enemy now does it? Not to mention if the roles were reversed I wouldn't exactly be eager to lose business either."

"If anything they're worse than an enemy." Orochimaru stated. "Enemies are a hassle but at least they're clear on their intentions. There's no question of what they think of you or would do to you if they had a chance, so you can at least prepare for them ahead of time. Konoha is more of a false-ally to you, stripping you of funds and resources while deceiving you into thinking they are harmless and pose no threat. Which means if they did decide to eliminate you, you wouldn't see it coming."

"The desert gives us many advantages Orochimaru-san. It is impossible to trek across it without one of us finding out." Kazekage reassured, trusting in his own shinobi village and the terrain surrounding it.

"Konoha doesn't have to invade you to destroy you Kazekage-dono. Bleeding you financially dry is already doing that, and if it gets bad enough, you won't be able to patrol your desert anymore. There goes your first line of defense. And don't forget they can strike from the sea side of the country as well. Sure there's still a stretch of desert protecting you but it is a narrow stretch by comparison."

Kazekage slightly leaned forward. The dialogue brought to him was true, Suna was being bled dry. It had been going on for years, since the start of the Yondaime Hokage's reign. The Wind Daimyo had become a huge fan of the Yellow Flash after hearing of his feats in the war and began hiring more Konoha nin in an effort to gain favor with the man. Even with the man 'dead' the Wind Daimyo still prioritized that village over his own, almost as if he was honoring the Namikaze's memory or hoping a second Yellow Flash would emerge someday.

"Even so, you didn't come here just to get my suspicions up. What is it you really want?" Kazekage asked, trying to keep his mind on the right track.

"I already told you. I believe it would be in your best interest to strike at Konoha before they strike at you."

"And why would that be in Suna's best interest?"

Orochimaru grinned. "Well for starters you can steal from them. To be realistic it's unlikely you can destroy the village. Not impossible, but not realistic either. But you can damage them enough that afterwards their first priority is defending themselves from follow-up attacks from other villages and reestablishing any order your village might have destroyed. And while you're at it, you can head to their treasuries and steal money and other valuables too to compensate for how much they've stolen from you over the years. Maybe even steal the secret to that Hiraishin your daimyo is so fond of. I imagine he'd regain interest in your village if a Suna nin knew that one."

Kazekage still did not look convinced. 'If learning the Hiraishin was that simple we'd have heard about a second user by now. It's much more likely that the jutsu died with the hokage.'

"Not to mention that while Konoha recovers from the damage you dealt them they won't be able to take as many clients as before, which means some work will _have_ to be reassigned back to you." Orochimaru added. "Unless your daimyo chooses to hire another village again, which would be a clear sign of him wanting your city to self-destruct and will make him lose face with the other daimyos."

Now Kazekage frowned. Even with all this happening he still doesn't think the village will self-destruct. Desert folk persevered anything thrown at them by man or nature, they would surely survive an economic recession. "Orochimaru-san, you have made a good case, but I would say you've made too good a case here."

"Too good a case?"

"Yes." Kazekage stated with a nod. "You spent a great deal telling me why Suna should assault Konoha, but not once have you stated how this is any of _your_ concern. Your insistence my village support you in this endeavor tells me any number of things, but not the one I want to know the most. What's in this for you? Why do _you_ want to invade Konoha?"

"My reasons should be obvious. I was kicked out for doing my job, finding ways to give our ninja a better chance at surviving and winning. But I was used to cover up something rather vile, and no one wanted to listen to me. Even my sensei threw me to the dogs when it happened. I was branded a traitor among many other things and can never go home again. I've been festering a grudge for a long time and it's time I do something about it."

Kazekage leaned back to hear this. 'He's trying to come across as being framed for his crimes, but virtually every criminal in history does that. It's too risky to take a chance on the possibility he's telling the truth.'

"Well then Orochimaru-san, I'm afraid I must decline your invitation. Even if you made some good points about the benefits of my village, this isn't about my village and never was. This is about you and your vendetta, and I will not have my shinobi fight and die for you to feel a sense of superiority."

"Kazekage-dono I assure you that Suna-"

"Not interested." Kazekage sharply cut him off then waved him off. "See yourself out."

Orochimaru narrowed his eyes but not in a threatening way. Well, not in the obvious threatening way, more like how a snake looks at a mouse then an offended man looks at the offender. "That's a shame Kazekage-dono, because I'm really counting on your support."

"Unfortunately you're not getting it. Now if you'll excuse me, there's someone outside I need to deal with." Kazekage said as he rose from his seat.

"Someone outside?" Orochimaru repeated. 'I can't kill the kazekage and assume his identity with a witness around. I can't risk the witness escaping or distracting me just enough to give the kazekage a chance to retaliate.'

Kazekage opened the window and saw no one, but he could see the sand on the window sill. 'It's been disturbing and not by wind. The distinct sign of fingers is there. Someone was eavesdropping. But who? Orochimaru-san wouldn't bother to have someone eavesdrop on his own conversation, and one of my Anbu would let me know. There must be an intruder in Suna.'

* * *

"What did you find out Mom?" Naruto asked when Kushina returned.

"We need to leave now. I was almost caught." The redhead woman told him, then turned to Gaara. "Would you like to come with us?"

"Where would we go?" Gaara asked.

"Is it even possible to take him with us?" Naruto added.

"Kurama-kun told me we can take him to Shobikou but he can't go to Kuo nor can he stay long. Just long enough to get him to safety."

Gaara looked back at Suna for a brief moment. "I'll go. You can't be worse than the people here, and if you are I'll just kill you when I can."

"No time for threats, let's go." Kushina said before placing her hands on Gaara then reverse-summoning herself back to Shobikou, followed by Naruto and Hinata while taking Gaara with her.

It would be quite some time before anyone in Suna realized Gaara was gone, because in Suna you don't go looking for Gaara. Gaara goes looking for you. And if he does, you just pray he finds someone else first.

* * *

"This is the place."

"A bar called The Den. This is where your associates meet?"

"You know a better place Haku-san?"

"How could I Hana-sempai? I just got here."

The two girls walked in and went straight to a booth-style table close to one of the corners of the central room. The bar was filled with civilian and shinobi alike all trying to have a good night.

One of the waiters came up to the girls and gave them each a menu. "What can I start you off with tonight ladies?"

Hana scratched her chin and thought it over for a moment. "I think we'll start with water for now. We need a moment to look things over."

"Alright, wait just a moment." The waiter said before leaving.

'So that's the signal for 'I'm here on business regarding Naruto-kun'.' Haku observed, already informed that Hana wasn't here just to unwind, but to introduce Haku to the other supporters of the whiskered boy hiding in Konoha. 'The waiter must be in on it as well. He may be one of the messengers or something.'

"While we're waiting, could you tell me exactly how we're allowed to be here in a bar?" Haku asked.

"Despite the fact we're both under twenty?" Hana rhetorically asked. "It's simple. The rumor that there is a shinobi rule 'old enough to kill, old enough to drink' is in fact true, but nowhere near as simple as that sounds. Jounin can drink at any age. Chuunin like myself can drink but only after it can be confirmed by a superior officer that we have killed a deserving target on a mission."

"So it's not so much whether or not you're old enough to kill, but if you're mature enough to handle the actual task?" Haku clarified.

Hana nodded. "Bingo. If you can't handle that part of the job getting drunk isn't going to help you with the rest of your career. The superior officer isn't just a witness to your act but your reactions. They determine if you can handle your job and therefore can afford the occasional vice. Now for genin it gets tricky, as most genin are kids. The official rule is no genin can legally purchase alcohol until they get promoted or reach the age of twenty, but they are allowed to sample alcohol in small doses under the eyes of their jounin sensei. Whether or not they've killed someone before and can handle it is irrelevant in that case."

"And what about me? I'm a civilian." Haku pointed out.

"True, but you're in the company of a shinobi. That allows you to come here, but you're not allowed to drink. And if you do, I'm the one who suffers legally for it. So try not to get me in trouble."

"Hana? Is that you?" A man asked as he approached their booth.

"Ah Shikaku-san, good to see you. Are Inoichi-san and Chouza-san here too?"

"We're not joined at the hip you know." Shikaku said as he took a seat by them. "I just got off work and came here for a moment before going home."

"Yoshino-san making that dinner you hate again?" Hana teased.

"Worse, her parents are over." Shikaku replied with a chuckle then noticed Haku. "Hi, I'm Nara Shikaku, an acquaintance of Hana. She helps tend to my clan's deer when they need check-ups."

"I'm Hasegawa Haku, her new protege and new to Konoha in general." The hyoton user greeted in return.

The waiter returned with two menus. "Should I grab another?"

"No I won't be staying, just chatting." Shikaku insisted. Haku and Hana ordered then the waiter left. "So Hana, remember that missing deer? So far we've yet to find it. Should we conclude it's dead or taken by predators now?"

"You mean the deer with blue eyes that was sort of left out of the herd?" Hana asked, nudging Haku's foot with her own under the table.

"Yeah that one. As you recall it just up and disappeared one morning from our forest, which is pretty secure so escape is unlikely, though not impossible since several deer have gone missing over the years. This particular one needed special attention but rarely got it and now it's gone. We're worried that something might have gotten to it by now."

Hana nodded. "An understandable concern, but I suspect that this deer is doing fine on its own. For all we know, it's safe and found a new home." Her eyes subtly shifted to Haku for a moment.

Shikaku smiled. "Same for the doe that went missing too?"

"It's possible. For all we know they might show up someday, but there's no need to give up hope on them still being alive and well. Maybe they're both getting the proper care they need now."

Shikaku looked relieved. "That's good to know. By the way, can I bring a fawn to your office tomorrow? It could be a perfect chance to give Haku-san here a glimpse at what her position entails."

"How injured is it?" Hana asked.

"Not so much. Enough to get Haku-san comfortable working with live animals."

"Then sure. See you in the morning. We'll both be there." Hana said, then Shikaku left.

"What was that?" Haku asked.

"That was how we communicate." Hana replied cryptically but with a smile.

* * *

"And that's everything we wanted to tell you." Kushina said as she wrapped up her tale. She and the others were seated on the grass outside Kuo, unable to enter since Gaara couldn't.

Gaara was seated on the ground in front of her taking this all in. 'So one of Konoha's hokages is pretending to be dead while using an organization of criminals as a front to collect all the people in the world with demon spirits in them, like me. These guys are working to keep people like me safe from this organization and this man.'

"Question, won't he eventually find out something's working against him? Naruto disappeared, then the Mizukage, and now me. Sooner or later he's going to conclude someone's trying to ruin his plan." Gaara asked.

"True, but there's a big difference between knowing you've got an enemy and knowing what to do about them." Kyuubi stated, having been brought into the discussion. To avoid frightening Gaara and risking him going crazy he had settled for his human form, as did the others. "Even though Namikaze will figure out someone is thwarting him, he has no way of knowing that it is the very people he's after doing it. He's more likely to conclude someone else is trying to beat him to his own goal, which will cause him to turn on the people who know his plan first. He'll conclude they're trying to take his intended prize for themselves."

"Which means he'll hurt himself as much as we hurt him." Naruto pointed out. "He'll think it's someone from the inside, meaning he will waste more time and resources trying to thwart them than us."

Kyuubi nodded. "Precisely. Though this will also encourage him to act faster. Luckily with people believing Yagura is dead he'll believe that Isobu is gone too and that will slow him down, but he will keep an eye on the remaining jinchuuriki to ensure nothing happens to them for the time being."

"What do you mean?" Gaara asked.

"I'll explain it this way. When we bijuu die, what really happens is our chakra disperses and blends into the natural chakra in the world, basically putting us in our version of a coma. After a few years, we awaken and sort of revive ourselves. But during that time, our chakra is completley undetectable and useless, even to ourselves. So if Namikaze believes the Sanbi jinchuuriki is dead, then he'll believe the Sanbi is dead too and therefore has to halt his plans until my brethren is revived."

"What if he doesn't know that?" Hinata asked. "What if he continues searching for Isobu-san? Or believes he can collect the dispersed chakra to use it now anyway?"

Kyuubi chuckled. "If he wants to search let him. He'll be searching for the wrong thing. And collect the dispersed chakra? Even if such a thing is possible, where would he get it? Unless he finds out Yagura is alive and hiding, he will be looking in all the wrong places for all the wrong things."

"But it still leaves Yagura-san and Isobu-san in danger." Hinata countered.

"True, but Yagura is a kage. He can give Namikaze a challenge, especially if he manages to work with Isobu in time. It's okay Hinata, there's nothing to worry about. Right now let's work on warning the unaware jinchuuriki." Kyuubi gently told her.

"So what do I do now?" Gaara asked, aware he couldn't stay here.

"My initial idea is we locate Yagura and see if he can look over you for a while. Right now he's trying to find a safe haven for jinchuuriki without relying on summons to do so. He can maybe find you somewhere to hide and train in secret." Kushina said. "But first I should take a look at the seal on you. It shouldn't make you unable to sleep, so something must be wrong with it."

"Be careful. Shukaku might not like you tampering with it." Gaara warned.

"Oh, you leave him to me." Kyuubi said cracking his knuckles.

Naruto, Hinata, and Gaara all wondered what he meant, but Kushina had something else on her mind. 'Orochimaru-sensei, what are you up to?'

* * *

Haku returned to her apartment that night very confused. 'What was that about? Hana-sempai didn't answer anything. Is she really an ally or am I giving information to the wrong person?'

Trying to clear her mind, she looked over the papers Hana had given here. 'Stuff she said I need to know if I'm working in a vet clinic.' So far it was all standard boilerplate material, the kind of thing that began to blur together in her mind. At the end Hana included an inventory list of supplies. 'One table, five beakers, seven syringes, a dozen boxes of latex gloves...' It went on, but Haku started to notice something. 'Wait a minute.' She double-checked. 'I was right, all the numbers on this list are in increasing order. Thirty-seven collars, four dozen small animal cages, fifty-two bags of dry dog food. Nothing on this list is sorted in any pattern except quantity. Maybe Hana-sempai sent me a coded message here.'

Taking a blank page and a pen, Haku went over the rest of the papers from the beginning and wrote down every word that appeared when it fit the number on the list. The first word, the fifth word, the seventh word, and so far. At the end she had written down this:

'The man is on our side. Fake threat. Can trust. Will help.'

'Fake threat? Wait, does that mean that some people here are only pretending to support the hokage?' Haku asked herself. Then she threw the paper on her stove to destroy it. 'I better get some answers tomorrow. I will not fail Naruto-kun.'

* * *

Orochimaru returned to Oto the next day in a bad mood. 'Drat, I never got a chance to kill the kazekage and take his identity. He was never alone long enough for me too. That was the entire reason I met him in his office, it was the ideal moment. After that, he was always surrounded by guards who would have defended him. Sure I could have killed them all too, but once I learned his jinchuuriki was gone it didn't seem important anymore.'

He slumped in one of his chairs. 'I had hoped that using Suna and their jinchuuriki would be enough to get the job done, but without their jinchuuriki they're not going to listen to anything I say. If I impersonated the kazekage then they'd know something was up since he'd be more concerned about tracking their weapon than going to war without it. I could maybe take down some of them on my own, but not the entire village. My hidden forces would be crushed before they even got a chance to fight Konoha. Best to just call this a lost cause.'

Not one to admit defeat for long, the snake sannin leaned forward. 'Only Suna is a lost cause though. Maybe I can use one of the other villages to invade Konoha. Not Kiri, they just ended a war so there's no way they'd be willing to start a new one somewhere. Maybe Iwa, since they've been itching for a chance to get back at the Leaf for quite some time. But how to properly motivate them? It won't be easy, otherwise they would have already done it.'

With that, he went to work one making new plans to invade Konoha, using a new army. He savored the thought of getting back at the village that turned him away in favor of the ones who set him up. 'I did everything they asked me to do. Everything. But as soon as they no longer need me they banish me and put a bounty on my head for the crime of doing my job. Let's see how smug they are when I put my findings to use against them rather than for them.'

* * *

Yagura was sitting on a tree stump on one of the northern islands in Mizu no Kuni trying to get warm by a fire. It was hard considering the fact it was snowing, but he didn't really have anywhere else to go.

"Yagura-san?" A familiar voice called out, making the pink-eyed jinchuuriki look into the snow to see Naruto and Hinata approaching.

"Naruto? Hinata? What brings you two here?" He asked, then he saw another person with them, one that was shivering quite a bit.

"We need to ask you, have you found a place to hide yet?"

"Yes, in fact I have. Sanbi told me he knows a place where myself and the rest of us can hide. Is this boy one of us?"

"Yes, this is Gaara from Suna." Hinata said as the aforementioned boy approached the fire to get warm. "He's not exactly comfortable in snow."

"Desert folk rarely are." Yagura's companion seated across the fire said, a tall brunette man wearing blue. "I'm Utakata, host to Rokubi. You two must be the ones Yagura told me about."

Naruto nodded. "Then you already know the story."

"Yeah I heard it, but it is hard to believe. Even so, I'd be a fool to not heed it."

"Here you go Utakata-sensei." A girl with golden blonde hair and red clothes said as she walked out of the nearby forest carrying some wood.

"Hotaru how many times do I have to tell you not to call me that?" Utakata asked with little patience.

"I've called you 'sama', 'shishou', 'dono', even 'sempai'. What else _can_ I call you?" She asked, then noticed the new company. "Oh hello. Are you travelers?" She politely greeted as she threw some more wood on the fire.

"In a way. We just came to learn where these two are going and if they can take our friend with them." Naruto replied.

"I suppose, but he might feel very out of his element there. The place I'm referring to is an island outside of Rai no Kuni, told to me by you-know-who." Yagura said.

"An island in the ocean?" Gaara asked. "Is it warm?" 'I thought I could handle cold, but snow is on a whole different level than desert nights.'

"Warmer than here."

"Is it secure?" Hinata asked.

"It should be. We won't know for sure until we check it out." Yagura replied.

"Good luck then."

"Where are you going next?"

"We're going to see if we can find the Iwa jinchuuriki next. And get some more training in." Naruto stated.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

"Naruto-kun, why are we taking the long way to Iwa?" Hinata asked as they camped out in one of the forests in the northern region of Hi no Kuni near the border of Yu no Kuni. After dropping Gaara off with Yagura and Utakata they went to Shobikou but came right back to the human world, essentially just saving them a trip by sea. They were both in their human forms in case someone happened to spot them out here.

"I told you Hinata-chan, appearing too close to Iwa would be a terrible idea. It would make them think that we're attacking them." He explained.

"I know that. What I meant was why did you want us to take the long way? We could have gone to Shobikou then reappeared closer to Iwa but not too close. Instead you insisted we go on foot the entire time. Why? If you wanted that we could be going to Kumo since it's closer."

"You want to go to Kumo?" Naruto asked.

"Well not without something already planned for us, but I'm not questioning the destination Naruto-kun. I'm questioning the route. Why take the long way?"

Naruto shrugged. "Maybe this way we can get a little more experience in. Besides, according to Yagura both of Iwa's jinchuuriki are older than us, older than him even, so they're not incapable of defending themselves until we get to them. Maybe this time we can afford to take our time and improve our own skills."

Hinata scooted closer to him wanting to bring something up.

"Another thing, you didn't bother telling Kyuubi-sensei or Kushina-sensei about this extra trip. Are you trying to avoid them?"

Naruto tensed he slowly turned to Hinata keeping a straight face.

"Why do you think that?"

"Because you weren't that happy with what they told you earlier. I know you well enough to know that what they said bothered you Naruto-kun. You don't have to lie to me. I am here for you"

Naruto put his hand on his but didn't meet her gaze. Trying hard not to look at her he let out a sigh wondering how this all started. "Hinata-chan, you're probably the only person in this world I can trust to never lie to me."

"Not even your mother or Kyuubi-sensei?" Hinata asked, a little surprised.

Naruto struggled to answer that properly but in truth he gave out a weak shrug. "It's more like I think they might lie if they thought it was for my own good, not to be cruel. You on the other hand would be honest even if it hurt me."

"Do you think they lied to you?" She asked as she cautiously leaned on him. She was grateful that he didn't push her away but even more happy he accepted her being near him.

"No, I'm sure they were both honest. But what they want... I'm not sure I can face them until I know what I want." He replied.

-Flashback-

"Hey Naruto, before you take Gaara away could we speak with you in private for a moment?" Kyuubi asked Naruto back outside Kuo.

"Sure Kyuubi-sensei. I'll be right back Hinata-chan." He followed Kyuubi and Kushina around out of sight and earshot of Hinata and Gaara, making the white-eyed girl a bit uncomfortable but not afraid. "What's on your mind?"

"You saw your mom and I kissing not that long ago right?" Kyuubi asked.

Naruto was void of expression, but it looked more forced than natural. Something he learned to do plenty when he was in Konoha growing up. "Yeah, why?"

"We decided to tell you why." Kushina said. "You see, when you and Hinata are out doing your own thing, I don't really have anything to do. Sure I could train too, but I've got years of experience and I'm not trying to learn senjutsu so the exercises you two are taking wouldn't do me any good. I get bored easily, so in that time Kurama-kun keeps me company."

"You kissed him because you were bored?" Naruto asked.

Kushina shook her head. "No, not that. I'm getting to that part. For the most part, Kurama-kun and I just chatted. We talked about some of the things we both remembered. He was inside me too for a time so he saw a lot of my life too you know. I was actually quite surprised to find out how much he had paid attention to what was going on. At the time I figured he didn't care and was only looking for a way out."

"For a while I was." Kyuubi admitted with a chuckle which earn him a mock glare from Kushina. "I mean, Mito was only supposed to contain me until Madara's genjutsu wore off. I still don't understand why she let me be transferred into you instead of letting me go home when she died."

"Maybe Mito wasn't as noble as you thought." Naruto suggested. "Or maybe you were still under the genjutsu and can't remember all the details."

"I really hope that's the case." Kyuubi commented.

"Anyway, back on topic boys." Kushina gently scolded. "It's been really nice having an adult to talk to here that I can connect with. Very much like how you can connect with Hinata. The fact is we're going to be around each other a lot for a long time so we decided that we might as well see where our connection takes us. We just want you to know so you don't get confused or feel like we're hiding something from you."

"So... you two are dating now?" Naruto asked but sounded more like a statement.

"Not yet, but it is highly possible." Kushina answered, then briefly gave Kyuubi a look as if to give him a hint. "Are you okay Son?"

"Sure, why wouldn't I be? After what you went through you need someone important in your life Okaa-san, and who better than Kyuubi-sensei?" Naruto quickly answered, though both adults could tell this response was masking something else.

As Kushina watched Naruto leave the forest to get back to Hinata she let out a sad smile, wondering how but also what is Naruto feeling.

-End Flashback-

When Naruto finished his recollection, Hinata didn't speak. She wasn't sure what to say that would have any effect on him at the moment. And even if she did, she wasn't sure what effect was going to be the one Naruto needed.

Naruto took her silence as an opportunity to continue. "You probably think I'm stupid don't you?" He took a deep breath. "I mean I understand what she went through... well sort of. It's just, she just came back to my life and now this is happening."

Hinata leaned against him, a gesture he had come to realize was meant to make him feel wanted. Then she intertwined both their hands. "I never have thought you were stupid before Naruto-kun, why would I start now?" She then made eye contact, looking at him affectionately. "But she also deserves to have some happiness in her life, and she wants you to be part of that happiness."

"Yeah, but I feel like there's something wrong with me."

"Why?"

"I know I'm supposed to be happy for them, but I'm not. Not completely anyway. That has to be wrong." Naruto explained.

"Well why are you bothered by it?" Hinata asked, her tone in no away reprimanding him for his choice.

"What if they fall in love and get married? What if they have a kid? That kid will have everything I never did. It will be loved from the start. Hell, it will be _wanted_, not like me. Sure, Okaa-san says she doesn't regret my birth, but I get the feeling that if she could go back and prevent her rape she would at least think it over. Even if it meant I was never born. If she gets a husband and kid, where will I fit in?"

To Naruto's relief Hinata did not move away from him, instead she continued to face him.

"I see. Even though you want to be supportive, you fear that someday you're not going to be welcome in your mother's life anymore. You'll be as big an outcast as I was. Am I right?"

Naruto slowly nodded. "Yeah, I want to be happy for her, I really do. I mean, Okaa-san was mistreated pretty badly too back in Konoha. She was even killed. She deserves to be happy. But..." He struggled to avoid sounding whiny. "I can't help myself. When I think about what she may get, I feel like I'm being buried alive. And that did happen to me once."

Hinata got comfortable again. "I know exactly how you feel Naruto-kun. Remember, my father already was everything you're afraid your mother will become." Naruto stiffened a bit. "Naruto-kun?" She asked, wondering if she had said the wrong thing.

"I'm okay Hinata-chan. You just surprised me there for a moment. I didn't think of it that way before, but I think you were onto something there. Maybe I'm just afraid that my mom will become like your dad. Once she has someone else to love, she won't love me anymore."

"Naruto-kun, your mother and my father are not the same person." Hinata told him, seeing he was now willing to listen to her. "My father wanted me to be just like him and other Hyuuga. He didn't hate me because he only had enough room in his heart for one child, he hated me because I wasn't just like him. He looked at me and expected to see himself, but he didn't, and he got mad like it was my fault his expectations weren't met. Your mom from what I've seen doesn't expect you to be anyone but yourself. Don't forget that."

Naruto nodded in understanding and wrapped his arms around her. "Thank you Hinata-chan. I guess I did forget that. I probably owe her an apology... well maybe both of them."

Hinata relaxed in his embrace, enjoying the warmth of his body much more than that from their campfire. "Talk it over with her first. Let her know your concerns, but don't try to stop her from doing things her way too Naruto-kun. She is an adult after all and free to find love wherever she can." Leaning over she kissed him on the cheek, a first for her even after all their time together. "She deserves it as much you do."

Naruto smiled. "Yeah. Are you ever wrong Hinata-chan?"

"I sure hope not." She joked, glad the mood was lifted.

* * *

"Kurenai-sensei, there's something you might want to know."

"What is it Shino? Is there trouble in the area?"

"I'm not certain. One of my scouting insects came back and told me two people close to my own age are not that far away from here, and one of them is a Hyuuga."

The red-eyed jounin tensed up. "Pardon?"

"So what? Maybe one of the other teams happens to be nearby." Kiba suggested, about to eat his dinner with Akamaru.

"Two people our age together out here? With no jounin sensei or third teammate around? Doesn't that sound just a little bit suspicious to you baka?" The kunoichi genin asked the dog user. She was Ami, forced to fill the empty slot on Team Eight since Hinata mysteriously left the village.

That was something that Kurenai was still bitter over. She had helped care for Hinata, finding her to be a welcome change from the self-important Hyuugas. There was only one thing about Hinata she didn't like, her interest in Naruto.

At first this attitude wasn't intentionally disrespectful to Naruto. Kurenai originally was not in on the plan regarding him, but she had been observant enough to know that he wasn't liked or properly educated. Kyuubi jinchuuriki or not, that much she was aware of out of job necessity, when she looked at Naruto all she saw was a hooligan, a disaster waiting to happen one way or another. Why not? He was uncouth, loud, a vandal, disrespectful to even the hokage, to her Naruto was the living embodiment of immaturity, therefore someone Hinata had no business finding appealing.

Despite her best efforts Kurenai could not break Hintata's fascination with him. The jounin had hoped Hinata was only interested in him because he was so different than what she dealt with every day and would soon see him for what he really was, or at least for what Kurenai saw him as. But that never happened, and Kurenai was getting concerned the longer it lasted.

Then one day she was approached by Hiashi.

-Flashback-

"You asked to see me Hiashi-sama?" Kurenai greeted, the 'sama' suffix forced but she had enough experience to disguise her desire to refer to him as something else.

"I ask nothing Yuuhi-san, I expect." The Hyuuga head replied.

"Expect or not, I am not under your authority so you cannot do anything about my presence _except_ ask for it. I am under no requirement to actually be here sir." Kurenai stressed.

Hiashi frowned but did not counter. "The reason you are here is because I require your assistance in something important. I believe you will find yourself glad to be involved in this matter."

'Somehow I doubt that.'

"As you know, Hinata is for some unfathomable reason attached to the Kyuubi brat. This absolutely cannot go on any longer. I allowed it up to now only because I thought she would outgrow it and while she had this interest I could possibly learn a thing or two about him, but unfortunately her interest is growing instead of waning. Something that cannot be allowed to continue for much longer."

Kurenai nodded. "I've noticed and I'm concerned too. I've tried to gently steer her away for her own good without breaking any laws, but she will not budge. In a way, I guess she did inherit your stubbornness."

"If only she had inherited it the right way." Hiashi quietly complained. "Anyway, we can't let her get close to the boy. Her one saving grace is that she barely interacts with him, but that may change someday. I will not allow that to happen. Since I can't wait for her to come to her senses and I can't reveal to her what the boy really is, I need to to use your skills to force her to change her mind."

"Let me get this straight, you want me to use a brainwashing genjutsu to force your daughter to start hating someone?" Kurenai asked.

"Yes. It's for her own good."

Kurenai sighed. "I cannot believe I'm saying this, but I agree with you Hiashi-sama. Her interest in the boy will never lead her anywhere good, and I'm concerned about her adamance in refusing to listen to reason. If this can help her get back on track, then I will try. But only after Hokage-sama approves."

Hiashi did not like the sound of that. "This is Hyuuga business, he has no jurisdiction here."

"With all due respect Hiashi-sama, once you got me involved this stopped being purely a Hyuuga affair. Bringing people from outside the clan robs you of the clan-only shield you love to use so much. And genjutsus aren't as simple as you assume. What you're asking could impact Hinata in more ways than you intend it too. I will not be held responsible for something going wrong all because you wanted to keep Hokage-sama out of this. If that was the case you shouldn't have asked for me in the first place."

"So you won't correct my daughter?"

"I didn't say that, I merely said I'm not doing it behind Hokage-sama's back." Kurenai proclaimed.

-End Flashback-

'I tried my best, but nothing worked. And Hiashi didn't want to get more people involved lest he lose control over the situation.' Kurenai rued, wondering where she and the others went wrong regarding Hinata. 'Are my skills not as good as I thought they were?'

"Are we in trouble?" The client asked. Team Eight was currently on an escort mission guarding someone traveling to the capitol of Shimo no Kuni.

"I don't think so, but it's hard to say for certain." Kurenai reassured. "Shino, is there anything else you can tell us about them?"

"I'm told there are a boy and a girl, both with unusual chakra. The Hyuuga is the girl." Shino answered, giving what little information his beetle could gather without getting too close.

'Could it be Hinata? And does that mean Naruto is with her?' Kurenai thought, seeing a golden opportunity here to settle a big problem for Konoha. While originally left uninformed of Namikaze's plan, upon addressing Sarutobi about Hinata's mental freedom she was brought into it. Kurenai couldn't say she completely approved, but she was convinced that the rewards were worth the cost. Plus she was smart enough to know she couldn't do anything about it and decided going along with the plan was simply the wisest decision. This also only reinforced her belief that Hinata needed to be separated from Naruto, even if involuntarily.

'If those two are here, I'll have to capture them and return them to Konoha immediately. Hinata needs to be where I can keep an eye on her, and the future of our village is dependent on the boy being under our complete and total control.' Kurenai told herself before standing up. "I'm going to go get a closer look at these two. Everyone, stay here in case there are more threats around. I'll let you know if I run into trouble."

"Sure Sensei." The genin said before Shino told her where to go.

* * *

"Baki-sensei, why won't you go let us look for Gaara?" Temari asked her half-masked sensei when they were out in one of Suna's training fields.

"It's pointless Temari. Gaara clearly does not want to be here and if we try to force him to come back he'll only kill us." Baki explained, overlooking their training as always. 'Gaara must had enough of the village, but sooner or later he might come back to find more victims. We need to be ready.'

"He's our brother. Maniac or not we have to do something." Kankuro insisted.

"And what makes you think he left?" Temari added. "For all we know he was taken. We did have someone visiting Suna the night Gaara was last seen after all. Couldn't he have been kidnapped?"

"Gaara kidnapped?" Baki asked, his tone somewhere between 'Are you kidding?' and 'Yeah right'. "Gaara's invincible. He's too powerful and well-trained to be such a liability."

"Just because it's never happened before doesn't mean it never can happen Baki-sensei." Temari insisted, then frowned. "If I didn't know better, I'd swear you were glad he's gone."

"In a way I am." Baki admitted, but not in a rude way. "The cold stares, the death threats, his disinterest in participating in our activities. I can't exactly say I miss all that."

"He may not have been perfect but he was our brother." Temari declared.

"Even so, tell me something Temari. If he _wasn't_ your brother would you want him back?" Baki asked.

Temari didn't want to admit it, but deep down her answer was no.

Unseen by all three Suna nin was a desert fox hiding in the sand. 'So the missing boy's siblings are concerned. Naruto-san should hear of this.' The fox then poofed away back to Shobikou, the smoke from the act mistaken for a small sand whirlwind.

* * *

'I can't believe it. It _is_ her.' Kurenai thought when she saw Hinata seated next to a red-haired boy wearing orange. 'I can only assume that's Naruto, the whiskers are a dead giveaway. But why did he change his hair color but nothing else? Does he really think that will trick us? Doesn't matter, I need to trap them both.'

Using a genjutsu on herself to make herself invisible, Kurenai moved as silently as a Kiri assassin to get closer to the two teens, who talked with complete unawareness to her presence. Reaching into her supply pouch, Kurenai took out a small kunai with a paper seal attached to it, this one not an explosive tag but one that emitted a sedating gas into the air. With this, she'd knock them both out long enough to tie them up, and if by chance Naruto wasn't effected she assumed that as a jounin she could easily beat him up. Not to mention it would give her a good excuse to take out some of her frustrations on him.

As soon as the weapon was in her grasp she was ready to throw, but she felt something grab her wrist. Something she couldn't see. "What the-?" The tag was suddenly ripped off the kunai and pressed into her face by the invisible hands, releasing the knock-out gas directly into her nose and mouth. Needless to say Kurenai was out before she hit the ground.

"How pathetic. She never considered someone might use genjutsu against her." Naruto said as he shimmered into visibility. The two of them back by the campfire dispelled, the disguised shadow clones no longer needed.

While they had been comfortable, Hinata would activate her byakugan every two minutes or so to scan the area for threats. Before Team Eight learned they were nearby, she already learned they were close. Knowing Kurenai and her tracking team was bound to discover them, the two kitsune hanyou's set up a trap.

And it looked like their trap was much better than the genjutsu mistress's tracking skills.

"She was either overconfident in her skills, or didn't consider we learned a few things in our months away." Hinata said as she became visible too. "I must say kitsune genjutsu is quite a useful thing. She didn't even bother masking her scent. Even if we couldn't see her, our hanyou noses could tell where she was."

"You're telling me." Naruto agreed. "Should we get out of here before she wakes up and alerts her students or do a little extra?"

Hinata smiled. "A little extra. While we can outrun them all, delaying them a little more won't hurt. Besides, I'd like to get back at her for betraying my trust. And I know just how to do that."

As she cracked her knuckles, Naruto felt a slight shiver up his spine watching the once shy girl, now a deadly kunoichi. 'I'm so glad she's always been on my side.'

* * *

"Huh? What happened?" Kurenai asked as she regained consciousness. "Why does my mouth taste like pine?"

"Kurenai-sensei?" Ami asked.

"Ami?" Kurenai responded, her eyes struggling to focus. "Why do I feel like I'm tied to a tree?"

"You are Sensei. I'm trying to untie you, but these knots are tough."

"Where are Kiba and Shino?"

"I told them to go away. Trust me Sensei when you see the state you're in you'll be glad I did." Ami answered.

Confused but in no condition to object, Kurenai waited for Ami to get her loose. Her arms were bound around the tree trunk and so were her legs, specifically designed to have her legs spread apart and her arms unable to shield her, like an X. She could feel the bark against her skin, letting her know that her clothes weren't exactly how she remembered them.

When she was free, she quickly saw why Ami didn't want the two boys around. Kurenai was currently wearing nothing except her bra and panties, her ribbon-style outfit torn to shreds on the ground spread out but all pieces in sight.

"How could this have happened?" Kurenai asked as she covered herself up, feeling a bit vulnerable at the moment. 'Hinata let this happen? That lousy boy must have forced her to let him. No way she'd approve of this. Even she can't be that sweet on him.' She thought bitterly, certain that only a boy could come up with this humiliation.

"That's not all Kurenai-sensei. Whoever did this to you stole all your equipment and wrote on you. And they stuffed this in your mouth like a gag." Ami said, holding out a pine cone but also her storage scroll.

"They what?" Kurenai asked. 'If they took my supplies then they took my one spare outfit. I won't be able to dress up again until we reach a city. And with a client here I can't let myself be seen. That will make me and by association Konoha a laughing stock once word gets out.'

"Yeah, on your forehead they wrote 'bitch'. On your stomach they wrote 'Come and get it'. And on your back, they wrote 'I like to be spanked'." Ami stated, bothered by the words on Kurenai's skin. "Whoever did this has a sick twisted mind."

'I swear when I get my hands on that boy I'm going to strangle him until his head falls off.' Kurenai vowed, using a henge to make herself appear clothed and unmarked.

* * *

Kiba and Akamaru meanwhile were going after the two. Shino had to remain behind to keep the client secure, but Kiba was available to chase down the ones who humiliated their sensei before they got away. Fortunately he had been able to get a whiff of their scents from Kurenai's clothes, a faint whiff but one nonetheless, and he was hot on the trail.

'One boy, one girl, and I think two foxes.' Kiba told himself. 'Their scent says they're in front of me, but I can't see them yet. I better go faster.'

The trail turned right all of a sudden and so did Kiba and Akamaru. To their shock, it went cold after three meters, something he didn't notice until he passed the end. "What the heck? The scent just disappeared. That's never happened before."

Akamaru sniffed to regain the trail and barked to his master. Following his dog, Kiba soon realized what had happened. "I get it, they simply redirected themselves and retraced their steps, creating the illusion of a scent trail dead end. They must have been prepared for me to follow them then."

Akamaru caught the fresh trail and continued the chase with Kiba quickly catching up. The new trail darted from tree to tree and even up and down, all to confuse their noses but this time they were alert for such basic tricks.

They ran out of trees and came to a fenced off field filled with farm cows sleeping or grazing late at night. In the background one could see a barn and a silo. Kiba stopped, trying to figure out how to go from here.

'It's likely they henged into cows here to hide from us. But if they know an Inuzuka is after them they should know I can spot them despite the henge. Are they hoping the scent of the cattle and manure will mask their scents?'

Akamaru sniffed the air then growled, and ran into the field right away. "Akamaru!" Kiba shouted, not wanting his partner to run off blindly into a situation. But the dog bit one of the cows and it vanished in a puff of smoke.

"Wait a minute." Kiba then took an inhale and realized what he had previously missed. There was a scent of cattle here, but it wasn't from the cows themselves. "These are fakes. Diversions." So he joined the white-furred canine in removing the fake cows one by one, which resulted in a lot of smoke.

Within that smoke Kiba heard something move, but when he turned to look he felt a set of hands grab him from behind. Hands that were coming out of beige sleeves, and in one of those hands was a rag that was quickly pressed to his face.

Kiba then found out that chloroform was even quicker acting when you had an enhanced nose.

* * *

Kurenai got back to Shino and the client with a genjutsu to hide her lack of clothes and derogatory comments she'd have to scrub off next time she bathed. Since Kiba wasn't there they had to follow Shino to find him, which led them to a now empty farm field that had only a passed out Kiba and Akamaru in it.

"Who are these guys doing this to us? What do they want? What did we ever do to them?" Ami asked.

"It may not be personal at all." Shino told her. "It could just be local shinobi not wanting to be found trying to get rid of us before an actual fight can break out."

'Almost Shino.' Kurenai thought. 'I get the feeling the one responsible for this is trying to keep us away from him or from Hinata. But his mistake was letting us live. Now we can get back to Konoha, tell the hokage where the damn boy is hiding, and send ninja specifically here to take him down and bring Hinata back home to be reeducated no matter what it takes. I'd do it myself but our mission is to get the client elsewhere first, if I capture these two now they'll only compromise that mission and have several chances to get away. Better to escape now and come back better prepared.'

"Wake up Kiba and get the client ready. As of right now, we are to finish this mission ASAP." Kurenai ordered.

Ami and Shino went to get their fallen teammate, but Ami backed away as soon as she got to him. "OH GROSS!"

"What is it?" Kurenai said, approaching herself for a direct look, only to grimace. "I see what you mean."

Kiba was laying face down on the ground with his face resting on a pile of horse excrement like it was a pillow. Fortunately he wasn't obstructed from breathing, but the fact he was breathing right next to the crap itself showed just how drugged he was. But that wasn't the worst part. Nope, the worst part was his pants had been pulled down a bit and it looked like something was wedged between his ass cheeks. Something... meaty for lack of a better term. Underneath his hips there was a puddle of blood and light reflecting off metal.

Akamaru was left relatively alone, though he had been buried to look like he was without a body. Or as if victim to the Headhunter Jutsu.

Knowing no one else would do anything, Shino had his insects remove the obstruction from Kiba's rear end. They did, and came back to the Aburame. "It appears that the thing in question is a severed human phallus, positively identified as Kiba's. No DNA of another was on it, just tiny bits of plastic indicating the one responsible wore gloves."

"Someone knocked him out, left him lying in a pile of crap, and cut off his dick before raping him with it?" Ami asked, sounding like she wanted to throw up.

"I can't confirm any actual penetration. I think a doctor would be best to determine how much damage occurred." Shino said. He moved Kiba to see what metal thing he was atop, and saw it was a bear trap clamped on his genitals. The shaft part had obviously been removed completely by this but the scrotum was still attached to the body, albeit barely.

A gust of wind blew by and Kurenai could swear she heard laughter. Looking around, a small piece of paper flew on the wind to her and dropped at her feet. She picked it up and saw it was a picture of Naruto and Hinata as she remembered them, arms wrapped around each other and sticking their tongues out at the camera while pulling on their eyelids with their middle fingers.

Before Kurenai could say anything the picture suddenly ignited, forcing her to drop it out of surprise. It became ash before she had any chance to salvage it.

'Is Hinata... actually helping the boy with all this?' Kurenai asked herself, well aware that picture was a message to her. A message that Hinata was not Naruto's prisoner but his partner in crime. 'What on earth happened to her?'

Team Eight could not leave that area fast enough, even before Kiba recovered. To keep him from getting worse, the patched up the wound, sealed up his severed penis in a scroll since they didn't have ice, and forced him to swallow some blood-replenishing pills before wiping his face clean. Before they left, they kept hearing laughter on the wind.

* * *

"Hey Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked when they were south of Ta no Kuni the next day.

"Yeah Hinata-chan?" He asked. The two were running to their destination while trying their senjutsu exercises at the same time, still trying to get a handle on it.

"Do you think we were a little hard on those two last night?"

Naruto thought about it, then shook his head.

"No, not really. Kurenai tried to destroy your free will and Kiba betrayed our trusts. You know what it said about him in the file? When he was asked by the hokage if he was my friend? Shikamaru and Chouji admitted they were my friends, but Kiba said the only reason he had anything to do with me was because when we got in trouble I got sole blame. It didn't matter what he did, if I were involved I got all the blame and he got off scot-free. I was a punishment lightning rod as far as he was concerned, nothing more. Besides, what about what he did to you? That was even worse. Much worse."

Hinata nodded. "Oh I remember. He came to me and said he smelled a dangerous chemical on my jacket that would only hurt me if I wore it any longer. I was spooked, but when I didn't take it off right away he tried to take it off me for me. I panicked and hit him, then told the teachers he tried to strip me. Next day there was a flaming bag of dog feces at the Hyuuga estate."

"And I got blamed for it and punished by having to be your father's punching bag for an hour. His one restraint was I had to live throughout it all." Naruto finished. "I think after that Kiba had an attitude to you, like he had to make you pay too."

Hinata nodded. "He did. He felt he needed to reassert his right to satisfy his wants, and told me that I could fight all I want, but it would be you that suffered, not him. So I had to... let him touch my chest a couple of times in private."

Despite the fact he had heard this before during their time together, it still got Naruto pissed. Someone he once considered a friend had used the both of them all because he felt he could get away with it. And worse, everyone who was supposed to help them let him get away with it.

"You're right, it was a stupid question." Hinata said. "No one we care about would have blamed us for killing Kiba right then if we wanted to, and Kurenai... she may think she's working in my best interests, but it's really her own she's working in so I don't feel guilty for hurting her. Maybe I was just being meek when I asked before."

"In a way, I'm kind of glad you show some regret." Naruto said, surprising her. "Despite what they did you don't take complete pleasure in their suffering like other do. That tells me you're still you, you haven't stooped to their level. You're just giving them the only form of justice they understand."

Hinata smiled, happy that Naruto understands. "Thanks Naruto-kun. You're right, we will never be like them, but that doesn't mean we have to be merciful to any of them" She said with a grin.

* * *

"Thanks for bringing me here. Were we really in so much danger?" The client asked Team 8 when they got to their destination, stopping only to take Kiba to a hospital and get him back to normal, while reattaching his body part. He did NOT want that to be known in Konoha.

"You heard what happened to one of us, just imagine if they had gotten to you." Kurenai explained, lying to hide the fact she had been in a hurry for a different reason. She was properly dressed now, but still needed a genjutsu to hide the words on her, which weren't washing off yet much to her annoyance.

Speaking of marks, once they cleaned the horse crap off Kiba's face they saw his Inuzuka facial marks were gone. As if they had never been there in the first place. Kiba was shocked, this bothered him almost as much as the damage to his manhood. To an Inuzuka, the marks were a part of their identity. Without them, it was like he was a symbolic outcast. Like he was a nobody.

Needless to say Kiba had nothing good to say about his first mission out of the village and was already not looking forward to the next one. He was also dreading the idea of what his mother would say about all this.

"Well, thanks for your help. Just follow me to the back and I'll get you your money." The client told them before leading them to behind the Daimyo's palace, where the people he was supposed to meet with were supposed to be. The client took them past the stables, and the horses got agitated. Agitated enough that they bayed and kicked against their confines.

"What's up with them?" Ami asked.

"I have no idea." The client said. "They usually aren't-"

He was cut off by one of the more aggressive horses, a large black male Clydesdale, broke free and ran towards the group. The group started to run for it but the horse followed.

"Split up." Kurenai ordered, hoping the horse would lose interest if it couldn't get them all at once. Shino went left, Ami went up a wall with chakra, Kiba went right, and Kurenai grabbed the client and went up a tree.

The Clydesdale turned right and followed Kiba, who was trying his damnedest to run despite the medical wrap around his waist hindering his movements.

"Why me?"

Elsewhere, Hinata and Naruto were wondering if their last part of their revenge against Kiba was any good. They had put some female horse urine on the inside of his jacket. A breeding female horse, courtesy of the nearby barn at the time, with an unmistakable scent to breeding males. In a way, Hinata had just used Kiba's 'contaminated jacket' trick against him.

Payback is sweet, but revenge is even sweeter.

* * *

Four days after that Iwa had some unexpected visitors.

"Tsuchikage-sama?" One of the many chuunin of the village said when he came to the office of the hidden village's leader. "There's a pair of clients here to see you about a mission."

Oonoki, the oldest of the kages still in power and the shortest one known dead or alive, looked up from his paperwork. "You know where to send them to discuss making missions official."

"I'm afraid you don't understand Sir, they requested this mission for you specifically."

Oonoki put down his pencil. "I am Tsuchikage, I am too busy to do missions myself, even the S-rank ones."

"I know, that's what I told them. But they... Sir, with all due respect, I think you actually want to hear this request."

Confused, Oonoki couldn't help but admit he was intrigued. "And why exactly is that?"

"Maybe you should ask the clients yourself."

"Very well, bring them in."

The chuunin left and in no time in walked Hinata and Naruto, both sporting their now-natural red hair to avoid any physical similarity to Namikaze.

Oonoki noticed four things about them right away. First, their red hair screamed Uzumaki, a clan he may have disliked but he respected them for the tenacity they brought to the battle. Second, the girl had a byakugan, implying she at least was from Konoha even if the boy wasn't. Third, they both sported no hitai-ates but their chakra levels were too high for non-shinobi. And fourth, they were kids.

With this in mind Oonoki refused to relax. He didn't know what they wanted or why they insisted on seeing him about it, or how Konoha was involved, but Oonoki just knew there was something wrong here. The only question was what was it?

"Tsuchikage-sama I presume?" Hinata politely greeted.

"Yes, I am the Sandaime Tsuchikage, Oonoki of Both Scales. Who are you two? Obviously one of you hails from Konoha if not both. What business do the two of you upstarts have in my village?"

"First we want to thank you for not having us killed on sight for this. I suppose the things they say about Iwa back in Konoha are a bit exaggerated." Hinata started.

"That tends to happen between enemies." Oonoki calmly admitted since it was an undeniable fact of war times and such attitudes did linger afterwards.

"Anyway, we first wish to reassure you that we are not Konoha shinobi." Hinata continued, being the speaker here since they really needed a diplomatic approach rather than Naruto's usual way of talking to kages. "We were considered official shinobi of the village for at most a few hours, but we learned something that destroyed any love and loyalty we had to the village."

"And let me guess, you wish to join this village instead, hoping that if you bring me some information I can use against Konoha I'll consider it?" Oonoki asked.

Both teens shook their heads, surprising the old man though he did not show it. But curiosity got to him wondering why they are in his office but also why come to Iwa? Such a trip would not be done without a purpose.

"We have no need for such a thing Tsuchikage-sama. We both already have a new home and we're quite content there. Our reason for being here is we need your help with something. If we succeed all of us will get what we want, Konoha's downfall along with the ruin of the Yellow Flash."

"You two think you can destroy Konoha?" Oonoki asked, with a 'you and what army?' tone of voice. "And what do you mean ruin of the Yellow Flash?"

"Destroy Konoha? By ourselves? No. Not at all. And even with help not any time soon." Hinata reassured. "Tsuchikage-sama, allow me to make our intentions clear here. Destruction is not our goal. We do not want to completely eradicate the village. As terrible as it is, you must admit that its removal will result in a power vacuum that could spark a new shinobi world war in the effort to fill the void. Unless a village is already prepared to fill that void and allowed to by the other four great villages, total destruction of Konoha will only result in more unnecessary chaos for innocent lives."

Oonoki nodded then turned to Naruto. "Why aren't you talking boy? You mute or something?"

"No, she's just better at this than me. If I were talking, I would have probably said something like 'hey old man wanna fight a common enemy?' or something like that."

Oonoki quietly chuckled to himself seeing his youth and eagerness. "Well at least you're honest." He turned back to Hinata. "Go on. You have my attention."

"To put it in the simplest terms, the Yellow Flash faked his death. He and Konoha intend to become the sole power in the Elemental Nations. As in wipe out all the competition. Since before we were born they have been planning this and working for it, all while keeping the other villages ignorant and unaware. We are not yet certain exactly when they intend to strike, but it will happen soon. Unless we do something about it."

Oonoki leaned forward and rested his chin on his clasped hands. "Go on."

"You're not just humoring me are you Tsuchikage-sama?"

"To some degree yes. I mean, you are children and have no proof."

"Oh, we have proof." Naruto said before holding up the folder that had changed his life forever. "You can see it, but let her finish first."

With no objection, Hinata continued. "We are aware that your village has two ninja called jinchuuriki, meaning two of the nine bijuu are sealed inside them. The Yellow Flash intends to rob you of both and take those bijuu for himself. He is using a group of S-ranked missing nin called Akatsuki to do the actual labor of hunting them down and taking them. He intends to do this to all the bijuu, and once he has them all he will use the bijuu as a weapon to destroy anything and everything in his path until Konoha and only Konoha remains. With him in charge again."

Oonoki sighed and leaned back in his chair. "I knew something like that was going to happen someday. I knew once the bijuu were distributed that someday someone would come along and decide they wanted them all for themselves. I sometimes wondered if Konoha had intended that from the start and only used the giving away as a ploy to keep the rest of us off guard."

Naruto shook his head. "From what we can tell, the Shodai Hokage was genuine in his peace offering. It's the hokages that came after him that thought he never should have done that."

Hinata nodded. "We came here to warn you to protect your jinchuuriki better. This man must not be allowed to get away with this. For the good of your village we recommend letting us talk to the jinchuuriki directly to give them an idea on where they can be safe."

Oonoki frowned. "So you plan on taking our jinchuuriki from us before Konoha can?"

"Not at all. If we wanted that we wouldn't have bothered to come to you first." Hinata replied.

"Good point." Oonoki begrudgingly agreed.

"The jinchuuriki have a right to know someone's after them, and strong enough to pose a serious threat to them. You deserve to know that your enemy is still alive and working against you. We deserve a chance to do something about it. We all have a common enemy. The only thing to ask then is are you willing to work with us or will you insist on working alone?"

Oonoki lightly stroked his goatee. "For argument's sake, let's say I agree to work with you. What exactly do you have in mind? And are you two really working alone?"

Hinata shook her head. "No we're not alone. We've got allies, and much older and experienced strategists than us to help us. We are here mainly because we were available to show up, but the others weren't. We have already alerted the jinchuuriki of Suna and Kiri and they are all in a safe place now. We are here to offer your jinchuuriki the same invitation, with your permission of course, or to at least warn them so they will be better able to defend themselves from the threat."

"And how is letting me know all this part of the plan?" Oonoki asked.

"Simple. This way if the jinchuuriki go off you know they weren't taken from you. You can spend your time preparing for Konoha and Akatsuki instead of hunting down two missing ninja." Naruto explained.

"You make a good point, but there's one thing you're forgetting." Oonoki replied. "You admit your preferred goal is to get the jinchuuriki out of Iwa. The enemy, Konoha as you admit to being from, is planning on doing the same. Why should I believe you two are not working for Konoha or Akatsuki to take the jinchuuriki from me without fighting?"

"I guess you need to see this then to be convinced." Naruto said, handing Oonoki the file. "Before you read, you should know my name is Uzumaki Naruto, and her name is Hinata, formally from the Hyuuga clan. Trust me, our names will be very meaningful once you see what this says."

Years of doing paperwork had basically trained Oonoki to go through documents quickly without missing important details. It took him only an hour to read the entire thing.

Once finished, Oonoki paused to compose himself. Even with all those years of doing the paper work the old kage rubbed his eyes but yet all the details everything is in there.

"So if this thing is the genuine deal, the Yellow Flash is in fact still alive, has the support of most if not all of Konoha in some twisted desire to rule the world, has led Kiri into a civil war, has started an S-ranked criminal organization as a front for his activities to act as a sort of smokescreen for himself and Konoha, and you boy, are his son?"

Naruto frowned. "I do not consider that man my father. While unfortunately half of my DNA is his," 'though the change to hanyou may have changed that amount,' he added in his mind. "I refuse to accept Namikaze Minato as a relative in any sense of the word. Do not put me in the same category as him."

"Even so, you being his progeny does make my suspicion of your real intentions all the more valid." Oonoki claimed.

"Old man, you read what happened to me. If Konoha doesn't care that I'm the Yellow Flash's son, why should you?"

Oonoki paused for a moment. While he was distrustful of how sincere these two were being, and had been since they showed up, he could see in Naruto's posture and eyes, which were henged to hide the rinnegan, and hear it in his voice that this boy had no love for Iwa's greatest villain. That alone made him consider the possibility that these two kids really were trying to take down the Yondaime and were asking for his help. Which Oonoki admitted was something he was having a hard time turning down.

But Oonoki was called a fence sitter for a reason. He liked to get the best of both situations. He didn't settle if he could go for more. Someone once joked that his blood type was AB because he didn't want to choose between type A or type B and went for both. Here Oonoki saw another situation where he could get more than offered and decided to go for it.

"Here's what I've decided. I am going to prepare my village for this crisis without letting it out that I know the nature of this crisis, to ensure the enemy doesn't catch on. I will inform my jinchuuriki myself. And I will let you two leave, but I will have no further interaction with you until you can verify beyond a doubt that you are working for the goal you say you are. Right now, I have only your word, both spoken and written, but I'm afraid that's not enough to convince me you are my allies."

"How can we confirm such a thing?" Hinata asked.

"You could bring me the jinchuuriki you've already warned."

Both teens shook their heads. "Not an option."

"And why is that?"

"We didn't save them just to hand them off to another kage. We're not just rescuing the jinchuuriki, we're giving them the one thing we were all denied, the right to live our lives our way." Naruto insisted.

"Jinchuuriki are not denied that right. They just need to fulfill their primary role first before they can use it." Oonoki said.

Naruto's anger flared up at these words. "So you think that just because people like you put demons inside us, when we can't do anything about it, that gives you the right to play God with our lives? And only after you can't use us or keep us down anymore you let us do things our way?" He came close to dropping the henge. Hinata held him, keeping him calm enough to avoid it while reinforcing it if she had to.

"That's just the way it works kid. Always has, always will. Your little way of keeping them safe is nothing more than ensuring the current jinchuuriki aren't killed off before they're replaceable, and keeping one village from having sole ownership of them. Sure, you're protecting them now but once the threat is gone the villages will want them back and won't suddenly treat them any better than before." Oonoki proclaimed, trying to sound sagely like a grandparent correcting a child's misplaced beliefs.

Naruto growled like an animal. "Ownership? Replaceable? You're no better than Namikaze as far as I'm concerned. Good luck defending Iwa, because right now, I don't care if you're taken down. I'll protect the jinchuuriki, but no one else here."

"This has been going on since Senju Hashirama was Hokage. You must be pretty arrogant to think you alone can change the world. And if you're truly as noble as you'd like to think you are, you can't pick and choose who to protect."

Naruto immediately he took the folder back before Oonoki could stop him and both Naruto and Hinata disappeared.

'That boy might be more like his father than he'd care to admit.' Oonoki told himself, then went frigid with a bit of a shiver. 'If that's the case, I might have just made a big mistake pissing him off.'


	10. Chapter 10

_Special thanks to Uzumaki Ricky, who came up with the great idea that makes the bulk of this chapter._

Chapter Ten

After leaving Oonoki's office Naruto and Hinata reappeared outside Iwa. "You want to search for the jinchuuriki ourselves or just head out of here?" He asked.

Hinata wasn't sure what to say. After that meeting she has no clue where to even begin such a search. "I don't know. We don't really know where to look, and maybe the Tsuchikage will change his mind if we wait a bit". She paused for a moment. "But waiting out in the open is a terrible idea in case he decides he'd rather see us contained or eliminated"

Naruto nodded with that. "Yeah. But if we're hiding how will we know if he changed his mind?"

"I don't know. We'll have to figure that part out later."

Rather than continue discussing it, the two headed out away from Iwa before any of their shinobi could pursue them.

* * *

"Haku-san?"

The brunette had been shopping when she heard her name called and turned to the approacher. "Oh, hi Shikamaru-san. What brings you here?" She had met the boy thanks to Shikaku visiting the vet clinic. She didn't think much of him but was glad to know he was one of the few that genuinely considered Naruto a companion.

The boy sighed in annoyance. Turning to his teammates fighting in the back. "It's my turn to buy my team lunch. It's very troublesome considering I have to be the generous one."

"You have to be?" Haku repeated, confused.

Shikamaru nodded. "Yeah. Whenever Chouji does it he always buys a lot and he usually gets the kind of food he favors, which means he usually gets the largest portion. I don't think he's doing it deliberately, heck I don't think he's even aware he's doing it. But it comes across as hogging the lunch for himself. Ino does the same thing but I think she is a bit more deliberate in it. She buys low fat foods only and in small portions, which drives Chouji crazy. I feel kind of obligated to be the bigger man and actually take my teammate's appetites into consideration rather than my own."

"I can see how that would get on someone's nerves." Haku sympathized. She could even see the two other member's of Team Ten in the back of the store arguing on what to get, at Shikamaru's expense of course. "If you ask me, you should give them a taste of their own medicine."

Shikamaru arched an eyebrow. "Pardon?"

"Do to them the same thing they've been doing. Show them how irritating it is when teammates aren't considerate. Otherwise, they're just going to keep doing it and take your kindness for granted."

The Nara sighed hearing this since he hadn't thought about it before. "Yeah, like that will accomplish anything." He stated sarcastically.

"Would you rather be taken advantage of just because it's easier than standing up for yourself?" Haku pressed holding her finger up.

"I didn't say that, what I meant was such an approach won't get the desired results." Shikamaru countered.

Haku shrugged her shoulders. "I'm sure a smart guy such as yourself will think of something. At least set some ground rules."

"Shikamaru?" Another person asked. The two turned around and saw Sakura coming up to them. "I knew it was you. How are you?"

"Fine." Shikamaru answered simply, sounding like he didn't want to chat.

The pinkette then noticed the brunette, and because Haku never truly revealed herself back in Nami no Kuni Sakura didn't recognize her at all. "Hi, I don't think we've ever met before. I'm Haruno Sakura.

'I'm well aware of who you are bitch.' Haku bitterly thought, having already been told about this genin. Naruto didn't have much to say, mainly because he wasn't sure how to say it. But Hinata was quite open in how she felt about the pinkette. Haku didn't want to judge this girl before she actually knew her. But she had already decided this girl wasn't going to be her friend right away, if ever.

"Hello." She plainly answered.

Sakura lightly tilted her head. "That's it?"

Haku nodded. "That's it."

"Fine, be that way." Sakura said before walking off. She quickly spotted Ino and decided the platinum blonde was a more interesting target.

"What was that about?" Haku asked when the pinkette was gone.

"I don't know, but something's not right." Shikamaru noted, giving Haku a serious look. "That girl hasn't approached me like that even once before. She only acts friendly to a select few and I'm not on that list. For her to come over here and be like that... it can only mean she's up to something. The only question is what and why?"

"Technically that's two questions." Haku corrected.

Shikamaru changed his expression from serious to annoyed. Taking a deep breath, he figured it would be too troublesome to argue with Haku. "You know what I mean. If I were you I'd be wary around her. She's less friendly to girls, especially if she even imagines you're a threat to her love life."

Haku nodded, finding herself wondering the same thing Shikamaru was. What is Sakura planning?

* * *

Near midnight Naruto and Hinata were sleeping in a forest outside Iwa's territory. They were right next to each other, Naruto on his back and Hinata on her right side curled up into him with his arm around her. They had been sleeping like this ever since they came to Shobikou and had to share a bed. By now it felt completely natural to them.

Their first night together Naruto had done the gentlemanly thing and let her use the futon. At first it worked but when he woke up he saw her resting right beside him. Hinata told him she couldn't get comfortable and he looked cold so she tried this to help them both. Since then they didn't bother sleeping apart.

Kushina found it quite cute so she never tried to stop them.

Naruto's eyes suddenly opened, but he wasn't quick to get up. "Hinata-chan?" He said, shaking her lightly to get her awake.

It worked, but she woke up slowly. "Huh? Naruto-kun? What is it?" She asked, sounding as tired as she looked while rubbing her eyes.

"One of my patrol clones just found something I think we'll want to see." He told her.

"Is it one of Iwa's jinchuuriki?"

Naruto shook his head. "Nope, but it's just as interesting."

* * *

It didn't take Naruto and Hinata long to get where Naruto was taking them, but once they got there Hinata was quite surprised.

"Kushina-sama? Kyuubi-sensei? What are you doing here of all places?"

Naruto's mother and the demon both she and he had once contained were seated on a log by a fire, looking relaxed. As if they had been waiting for the two teens to show up. As unexpected as their presence is, Hinata was more surprised by the other two people with them seated on a separate log. She didn't recognize either of them, and wondered why Kushina and Kyuubi would be in their company. Fortunately, that part proved these two strangers weren't threats.

They were a man and a woman of average jounin age, though neither displayed any hitai-ates despite their obvious ninja apparel. The man had short black hair and apparently had taken a nasty hit to his face in the past. The girl had oak brown hair cut short and she had two marks on her face too, only hers looked painted on rather than as a result of scars.

"Son, Hinata, I'd like you to meet two people that could be very helpful to us. This is Nohara Rin and Uchiha Obito." Kushina greeted.

"Uchiha?" Naruto and Hinata repeated with much suspicion.

The scarred boy nodded. "Yes, but rest assured I'm nothing like my hate-filled clan. But that's not the part I'm afraid to admit. You see, Rin-chan and I... were Namikaze's students once."

Naruto and Hinata could actually feel their blood freeze one second with surprise then boil with hostility the next. Namikaze's students, Kakashi's teammates, were right here in front of them?

"Okaa-san, have you lost your mind? Why the hell-?"

"Son, calm down. Let me explain everything first." Kushina cut him off firmly.

Hinata immediately activated her byakugan and looked over the older woman for a moment. "She's not an impostor, but why would she want us to meet these people?" She whispered to Naruto.

"That's exactly what I want to know." He replied.

"I can hear you two, you know." Kushina told them. Just because her fox ears weren't showing didn't mean she had human hearing. 'The nerve of those two not to trust me. But on the other hand I can't exactly blame them.'

"We've heard a bit about you from Kushina-sama, so we understand your feelings towards us. But please, let us explain our position before you judge us." Rin requested.

"I suppose we must, lest we be hypocrites. But I'm keeping my byakugan on." Hinata insisted, sitting down. Naruto followed, looking as happy about this as she did.

"Fair enough. Now, let's start at the beginning. Obito-kun and I were students under Namikaze, but we didn't exactly learn much." Rin started.

"Is that why you aren't calling him sensei right now?" Naruto asked.

"We haven't called him sensei in over a decade." Obito answered immeiditality. "We usually call him Traitor in case anyone's listening in. But we'll call him by how you refer to him for convenience sake right now."

"What do you call Kakashi then?" Kushina asked.

"Killer." Obito and Rin said together.

Rin then looked back at the youngest people in the area. "Anyway, I won't bore you with the details of our training, but I can tell you in retrospect we should have seen something was wrong. We didn't, because Obito-kun and I had other priorities. He was trying to get my attention, and I was trying to get Kakashi's attention."

'Like me with Sakura, and her with Sasuke.' Naruto thought. 'Boy, if the three of us had been on a team together like the old man had planned that would have sucked. Glad I dodged that kunai.'

"What really opened our eyes was something that happened during the last war." Rin added. Closing her eyes thinking about it she took a deep breath while Obito took her hand calming her down.

"I'll explain my part first since it happened first." Obito interjected. "Our team was fighting in a battle against Iwa. Trai... I mean, Namikaze was fighting elsewhere to provide a distraction while the three of us went to destroy a bridge that was crucial to Iwa's supply line. By taking that bridge out we shortened the war considerably. Unfortunately, we ran into a problem. A boulder was going to crush our teammate Kakashi and I happened to take the hit for him."

Naruto and Hinata widened their eyes to hear that.

"I was dying but I thought my death could have more meaning than that and so I let Kakashi replace his damaged left eye with my own sharingan. I figured this way he could continue to be Konoha's shining star..." Obito's voice was noticeably bitter at that part. "And it was a good way to give a proverbial 'screw you' to my clan. Trust me Hyuuga girl, your clan isn't the only one that loves to pick on its own."

"How did you survive?" Hinata asked.

"I'm not really sure to be honest. But when I woke up, I wasn't under a boulder anymore. But of the two, under a boulder was probably the better place." Obito clarified, sounding like he regretted something. "I found myself bandaged up and barely alive, but alive, and in a bed. I was also being watched over by a couple of Zetsus."

"What's a Zetsu?" Naruto asked.

"Think of it as a humanoid plant." Obito replied. "They were created using DNA from the Shodai Hokage in an effort to mass-produce an army of fighters with various but effective skills. One of them was bonded to my body to keep me alive. It still is."

"Wait, you said this Zetsu was created." Hinata noted. "Who created it? And why was one available for you to use?"

"Good question. You see, this is where things changed for me."

-Flashback-

'Did I die?' Obito asked himself, feeling no pain but seeing nothing but darkness. After some struggle he opened his one remaining eye, his right one, and saw he was in a room with some candlelight. 'I must be alive. But how? I was buried under an avalanche. Wasn't I?' Thinking back with all the boulders coming down on him. He was sure that wasn't something he imagined. 'If that _was_ just a genjutsu, I want my eye back.'

"Where am I?" Obito asked, testing his ability to speak. He could, but his throat was rather raspy.

"In good hands Obito." A familiar voice greeted.

"Sensei? You rescued me? But how?" Obito gasped, trying to sit up but he found himself unable to. But he could see Namikaze Minato standing at the end of the bed.

"Don't struggle Obito. Your body was heavily damaged by the rock slide." Namikaze warned. Pointing to his body with everything that happen to him. "Your right side is all but dead flesh, and your arm had to be amputated. Your leg is but one hair away from needing amputation as well."

"Where are we? How did you bring me here?" Obito asked, the room too dark for him to identify anything.

"This room is a secret place for me. It's where I realized what my destiny is. As for how I brought you here, I actually had hiraishin seals placed on all three of you. I activated yours, but instead of bringing me to you I brought you to me. Even with that jutsu, it's a miracle you're alive."

"Sensei, thank you for saving me." Obito said, grateful.

Namikaze nodded. "Unfortunately Obito as you currently are you have no future as a shinobi, or as a civilian. You may never be able to stand up again, and your body may be out of immediate danger now but it could relapse soon. Your clan could possibly consider it better in the long run for you to simply die and get it over with."

Obito snorted, thinking how true that was with the current clan head. "Yeah, better for _them_. Heaven forbid people learn that an Uchiha can actually become disabled."

"But I know a way you can return to peak physical condition quickly with no ill side effects. I'm more than willing to offer this to you." Namikaze offered.

Obito tensed up. "But there's a price involved?" 'Why would Sensei give me an ultimatum? He's never done that before.'

Namikaze smiled. "Yes, there is. The resource needed isn't easy to come by and must be kept absolutely confidential under penalty of death. I can offer it to you, but you must keep this a secret from absolutely everyone. And you must do whatever I tell you for the rest of your life."

Obito didn't like the sound of that. "But Sensei, I already obey you."

"And I intend to ensure you stay that way. I will not tolerate any disobedience, especially from my students. I expect total unquestioned loyalty. Like with Kakashi, he knows what it means to be loyal. When I say jump you don't ask how high, you just jump. Am I understood?"

'This isn't like Sensei, he's never been a dictator.' Obito thought, then used his sharingan to detect any signs of genjutsu. His eye hurt and the pain shot through his body, but his eye told him there was no genjutsu.

"Try not to use any chakra Obito, that will make what's keeping you from dying fail. I'll let this little act of disobedience go so you will learn from your mistake, but by the time I return I expect your answer." Namikaze said before walking away, leaving the room in a way Obito didn't notice.

'What happened to Sensei?' The scarred Uchiha asked himself. 'I've never disobeyed him before, but now it sounds like he's trying to take away the option entirely. Why? What does he want from me that he's refusing to take no for an answer regarding?'

When the pain dulled Obito noticed that there was more light in the room and it was larger than he originally noticed. The room was about the size of two Academy classrooms put together, with some sort of underground tree in the center growing around some kind of monstrous statue. At the base there appeared to be a chair carved into it or growing from it, and hanging from the branches were white human-shaped things with little detail on them. Many of them were disfigured or incomplete.

"What is this place?" Obito asked. He got no answer. "I don't want to stay here." He tried to get up and out of bed, but he collapsed like a chair with one leg.

"Do you want to die Obito?" Namikaze's voice asked him, its origin unknown. "You see those things growing off the tree? Those are actually grown from Senju Hashirama's DNA. Don't ask how, I have no intention of sharing that information. But one of them is grafted onto your body right now. That is the only reason you're still alive. Don't worry, it was too underdeveloped to take you over or anything like that, you're the one in charge of your body. If you want to leave then by all means do so, but that artificial body will fail on you if you leave the room and you'll die before you can even draw your next breath. If you want to keep it attached, you'll do as I say from now now."

"Why are you doing this to me?" Obito shouted.

"Because it's the only way to keep you alive, and now that you know this exists, I need to guarantee you can never turn against me Uchiha Obito. Your life is now completely under my control." Namikaze answered, a hint of satisfaction apparent in his voice.

-End Flashback-

"Your own sensei saved your life and tried to blackmail you with it?" Hinata asked, appalled.

Obito nodded. "That's exactly what he did."

"So how did you get away?" Naruto asked, curious.

"That came after I spent some time in that chamber of his, waiting for my body to strengthen and survive again." Obito replied.

-Flashback-

"How long have I been here?" Obito asked. By now his body was in better shape but he was still missing his right arm, possessing only a sort of sprout in its place. On the plus side his right leg was now able to support his weight as long as he didn't move too fast.

"Don't worry, we're not charging you any rent." One of two Hashirama clones told him. Obito had learned they were called Zetsu and didn't have real personalities or sentience, enough to comprehend orders and follow them as well as learn information, but not enough for them to truly be aware of their own existence. They were basically an organic version of artificial intelligence.

"Since we're made from the demonic statue we don't really have any expenses so we don't need your money." The second Zetsu said. This Zetsu was actually the more normal of the two, save for the spiral shape it's face and chest flesh took, making it look like it had been grown on a centrifuge or something. The first Zetsu looked normal on the left side but the right side was covered in prominent spikes.

"That's not what I'm concerned about." Obito said, not liking talking to them. To a Zetsu, talking about bowel movements was good conversation material. Obito would rather stab himself in the head than go through that again.

"Then why does it matter how long you've been here?" The first Zetsu asked. Obito called him Spike, and the second one Spiral for obvious reasons. "We were ordered by Namikaze-sama to watch your rehabilitation. You're not going anywhere until you've given your answer to him, however long that takes."

"I want out of here." The Uchiha stated.

"Sorry, that can't happen." Spiral stated. "On Namikaze-sama's order all the exits were blocked. No one goes in or out until he says otherwise."

"Where is Sensei while I'm trapped here?" Obito asked, no longer clear on when he last saw Namikaze but aware it had been a long time.

"He's fighting in the war, ensuring that his ultimate conquest will take place." Spiral answered.

"Ultimate conquest?"

Spike nodded. "Yes. Namikaze-sama intends to become Kage of all ninja."

"Kage of all ninja?" Obito repeated, wondering if he heard it right. 'Can such a thing even be possible? One Kage all ninjas look to?'

Spike nodded. "Yes. He intends to become the single strongest ninja in the world, capable of controlling all the villages both major and minor. Kage of kages, god of shinobi, that sort of thing."

"Impossible. He wouldn't want that sort of thing." Obito claimed.

"But he does. You see, the man he calls sensei told him it was prophesied that someday soon one ninja will alone decide what the fate of this world will be. Namikaze-sama intends to be that one ninja, and he'll stop at nothing to ensure he is the one the prophecy is about. He has every intention of guaranteeing that the fate of the world is whatever he says it is, and anyone who poses a threat to that must be eliminated no matter what. Anyone who helps him achieve it will be rewarded greatly."

"This... this is crazy. My sensei can't seriously be trying to take over the world all because he wants to control some prophecy in his favor." Obito said in denial. "Where would such a prophecy even come from?"

"Why is that hard to believe? Namikaze-sama told us that himself. Did he not tell you?" Spiral asked.

"He probably did that thing called lying, where one intentionally gives false information." Spike commented.

"So should we lying to him too?" Spiral asked.

"It's call lie when you act, and no, we are never to get into that habit." Spike proclaimed.

"Shut up. Your conversations give me headaches." Obito whined placing his fingers on the bridge of his nose wondering how he got stuck listening to them.

-End Flashback-

"I didn't want to believe it. How could I believe it? The man I admired, who made me feel unashamed to be my own type of person rather than telling me to be just another Uchiha." He briefed looked away. "And he was some sort of conqueror-wannabe. It didn't make sense, but when I spent so long with nothing to do, all I could do was think it over, and ask myself what if it was true."

"It's true all right." Naruto said.

"I know that now, but not then. What convinced me was the day I finally escaped."

-Flashback-

On an indeterminate day, Obito was standing on his own and walking at a good pace.

"Nice progress Obito." Spiral cheered. Spike mean while was outside scouting for any threats in the area. Spiral couldn't go because he was still connected to the tree by a cord-like vine.

Obito had been regaining his dexterity, his mobility, and even his ability to jump like a ninja again. Now that he could stand again he wanted to get back into training.

"Hey Spiral, can I ask you something?" Obito asked as he flexed his new right arm which had grown in thanks to his Zetsu-graft. With the arm he was able to do push ups again, and to his surprise it granted him a weakened version of the mokuton. Appearance-wise Obito looked normal again, though his hair was grown out due to lack of cutting, his right face was still scarred, he couldn't open his left eye since there was no eye there anymore, and his entire right side except most of his leg was paler than normal, but he looked healthy again.

"You just did." Spiral simply replied.

"What I meant was if no one can get in or out, how do you guys know when your master is coming back?"

"Oh that's easy. We can phase through the walls."

"Really?"

"Yes, we move through the earth and through trees. Can't you?" Spiral asked.

"If I could this wouldn't exactly contain me now would it?" Obito asked, half-annoyed.

"I suppose so." Spiral admitted.

"Could you take me outside?" Obito asked.

"I believe I'm not supposed to." The Zetsu told him.

Spike emerged from the stone wall but he didn't leave it completely. "I was just outside, but I heard your teammates are in trouble."

Immediately alerted Obito turned around. "What happened?"

"They're being pursued by a group of Kiri nin." Spike answered.

Fuming at the thought of being powerless to help, Obito balled his fist, ready to punch his way out. "Please, take me outside."

"What can you do to help them?" Spiral asked.

"More than I can do being stuck here. My body should be able to handle being out on it's own by now."

Spiral nodded. "That does make sense. But just to be safe, if you want to go outside..." Spiral then began to come apart, almost like a flower blossoming, only not as beautiful to see. "Wear my body."

Spiral wrapped himself around the Uchiha before Obito could object to it. "Why are you helping me?" He asked before the process finished. "Isn't this disobeying your master?"

"Our first master was an Uchiha like you. We feel he would have wanted you to do something when you could." Spike answered as Obito was covered by Spiral, his right sharingan being the only part of them still visible.

Obito tested the new Zetsu-suit he was wearing and found it as responsive to him as his own clothes had been. "Thanks guys." Cocking his fist, he punched the rock wall as hard as he could, and he succeeded in shattering it and creating a way outside.

"Impressive. You used the demonic statue to give you enough chakra to do this." Spike claimed. "What now?"

Obito reached back and severed the vine connecting Spiral to the tree. The misshapen human/plant clone quivered a bit at the act but remained stable. "I'm going. Show me where they are."

"What you're wearing is basically a clone of me. I'll communicate with you telepathically to show you the direction." Spike claimed.

"Come with me instead, in case I need back-up." Obito requested while grabbing a black cloak left behind and using it to cover himself.

"Well you have been out of commission for a while so I suppose-"

"Either do it or don't. Decide now." Obito interjected before heading out, guided by Spiral for now.

Spike chose to follow.

-End Flashback-

"I got a question." Naruto interrupted. "How did this Spike know to recognize your teammates? And why didn't he do anything to help them if he knew they were in danger?"

"He had interacted with Namikaze before. He's probably seen us all before I was caught in the avalanche. If not him then another Zetsu that told him about us." Obito answered. "As for acting, the Zetsus aren't designed for combat, only espionage."

"Though they can be used for assassination, which is a sort of combat." Rin added. "A very one-sided type, but still a form of combat."

"Interesting." Kyuubi noted. "Makes me wonder how he's been using them all this time." Kushina nodded, wondering the same.

"You said the Zetsus first master was another Uchiha. What does that mean?" Hinata asked.

"The man who created the Zetsus in the first place was Uchiha Madara. Who was still alive but a wrinkled old husk of his former self using the same demonic statue to keep himself alive." Obito answered. Kyuubi tensed at hearing this while he began to think about something. Obito noticed but paid it little mind.

"Wasn't he killed by Senju Hashirama a long time ago?" Kushina asked.

Kyuubi shook his head reminding Kushina about the contract. "No, I remember now that he was on the active summoner list for a while. I'm told by other kitsune it was while I was sealed in you he finally died. I wonder how he lived so long."

"I'm just saying what I was told." Obito reminded her. "Anyway, it turns out my ex-sensei interacted with Madara at some point. I have no idea what happened in their interaction, but I'm told by Spiral that Namikaze killed Madara and took command of the Zetsu. With Madara gone the Zetsu weren't exactly unwilling to follow their new leader."

'I wonder if Madara in some way created Namikaze's attitude, or if he was just another victim to it.' Kushina asked herself, not truly caring in either case.

"So what happened next?" Hinata asked.

Rin cleared her throat getting their attention. "This is probably where I should start my part of the story. You'll understand what happened next better that way." With no objections she began her tale. "After we thought Obito-kun was killed, I was a bit of a wreck. It hit me hard, making me wonder if all the time he had been trying to earn my affections he actually had and I just wasn't aware of it until he was gone."

Looking away, Hinata saw the hurt in her eyes. She turned to Naruto, hoping they don't have to have the same fate.

"I didn't have much time to grieve because there was still a war going on. We fought on, me and our former teammate Kakashi. Do you know who that man is?" Rin asked, unsure how familiar they were with him.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, we never officially met but the Sandaime told me about him a while ago when he was trying to 'encourage' me to be better. Of course my other source of info told me more."

"Though we did see him in Nami no Kuni, remember Naruto-kun?" Hinata pointed out. "With his team no less, a team you would have been on if we had stayed in Konoha. Which would be a carbon copy of their team." She saw Obito and Rin look down. "Sorry."

"Kakashi was in Nami no Kuni when you were there?" Kushina asked, surprised.

Naruto nodded. "Yes, but luckily he never found us. I mainly used clones to ensure we were never where any Leaf-nin were, and we only had direct contact with one of them." Hinata nodded with a frown.

"Anyway, Kakashi and I were told to go help out some of our Suna allies who were being attacked by Kiri nin." Rin continued. "When we got there we were surprised to see one of Kiri's jinchuuriki there. The Sanbi jinchuuriki to be specific."

"We recently met him." Naruto mentioned. 'Not sure how much to tell them regarding the jinchuuriki. For all we know they still are loyal to their sensei and are tricking us. Then again, if they were, I don't think I'd still be here thinking about it.'

"When I met him it wasn't very pleasant." Rin said. "You see, the jinchuuriki was alone, which was something I didn't expect. I was alone too, because Kakashi went to get our sensei for back-up. My objective wasn't to fight the jinchuuriki, just delay him from getting back to his comrades. I did so mostly with genjutsu and altering some landmarks before he reached them. But after a while we were both ambushed... by Namikaze."

"He ambushed his own student?" Naruto asked. "You sure you weren't just caught in the crossfire?"

Rin nodded. "Trust me, there's no possible way I was an unintended victim of his surprise attack. Not after what happened next."

-Flashback-

"What happened?" Rin asked when she regained consciousness. "Why was I unconscious in the first place?"

"Oh good Rin, you're up."

"Sensei?" Rin asked, recognizing the voice. "Thank Kami-sama you showed up."

"I'm glad to hear that." Namikaze told her. "You did your mission well, the jinchuuriki wasn't able to get back to his army. Now I can make use of him."

"What do you mean?" Rin asked, trying to sit up, only to discover she was strapped down to a table. "Why am I bound? Sensei what's going on?"

"Now it's time for your next mission Rin. You see, I think Kiri shouldn't have this jinchuuriki." Namikaze said, gesturing to the person strapped to the table next to her. Rin turned and saw a paralyzed and dazed Yagura, looking like he had been heavily drugged. "So I'm going to take the bijuu out of him and put it in you."

"WHAT? WHY?" Rin asked, horrified.

"I told you, Kiri doesn't deserve to have this jinchuuriki, but I do. I can't exactly make this guy loyal to me, so the next best thing is to make someone already loyal to me a jinchuuriki." Namikaze answered, thinking it would work since Rin was already there and loyal to him and Konoha, but mostly to him.

"You can't do this. This isn't right." Rin objected, squirming in her straps in an effort to get free.

"Oh but I can, and I will." The blonde man stated. "This is the perfect opportunity to test out those seals I stole from the Uzumaki."

"You stole jutsu from a clan?" Rin repeated, stunned. "How could you? That's a capitol offense."

"So what?" Namikaze asked apathetically.

"And what about Kushina? Does she know?" Rin asked. She had seen the Uzumaki woman around her sensei before but the striped-cheek medic nin wasn't sure what their relationship was.

"Oh please, that bitch? She doesn't know anything, and she never will if I have anything to say about it."

Rin's eyes widened. "But I thought you loved her."

"I love her power, not her. But unfortunately she refuses to share it, so I'm getting it this way. If this works, then maybe I can take her power. Maybe I'll put the Kyuubi inside myself, unless the fox needs a specific type of host. I'm told the Sanbi doesn't need such a host so you'll do for now."

Right away Namikaze began a set of hand seals and placed his palms on the end of the table. Right away an array of fuinjutsu lit up and covered both captives. Rin felt like somehow her body was being opened up from the outside yet she felt no pain. Her chakra was going haywire though, completely out of her control.

'He's trying to get my body ready to accept a foreign chakra forced into it. Dear Kami-sama he's really doing this to me.' The kunoichi thought, denial finally leaving her.

Yagura glowed brighter than her and some things that looked like blood transfusion tubes connecting him to her did the same. Rin could feel chakra being drained out of the Kiri nin and absorbed into herself, like a chakra transfusion instead of blood. A seal placed on her stomach helped cycle it through her body, helping her keep it contained.

'I can't let this happen. This is wrong, horribly wrong.' Rin thought, but wasn't sure what to do. Then she got an idea. 'Could that work?' No time to debate, Rin carefully reached into her supply pouch, struggling to move despite the straps and sealing. But luckily she reached what she was after, a small seal given to her by Kushina.

'If you ever think someone's going to use seals against you, use this to stop it for one minute. Don't let anyone else know you have this though.' The redhead told her when giving her the seal. 'You may think no one will, but trust me, someone could.'

'Kushina-san, did you predict he was planning something like this?' Rin asked herself before applying the counter-seal to the table.

It worked and the bijuu transfer was halted. "What the heck?" Namikaze questioned, not expecting this.

Her chakra wild and empowered, Rin was able to break through the straps keeping her down and got up. 'I feel so hot, like I've got a fever everywhere. And my stomach's cramping like menstrual cramps only worse.'

"Do you have any idea what you've just done you foolish girl?" Namikaze asked, infuriated.

"Sensei, this is going too far. I thought you were better than turning your own students into sacrifices." Rin countered, suppressing a wince. Slowly getting back to her feet. "You have no right to take anything from Kushina-san."

"We're warriors Rin, winning is everything. If stealing clan property and turning students into cannon fodder is how to make my side win then I'll gladly do it over and over again. Be content you're still useful to me." He glanced at the seal on her stomach. "Not for much longer unfortunately."

Before Rin could ask what he meant, Yagura began to break free as well. But he was covered in dark blood-red chakra and sprouting three tails. He roared in anger and destroyed the table with one of his tails.

"The bijuu is still inside him. You've only got a portion of the creature's chakra." Namikaze told Rin. "Your little stunt just jeopardized the process and the seal's quality. It's too unstable now to put more chakra in or take it out. I'd say in a couple of hours you're going to become a human chakra bomb."

"What?" Rin asked, terrified.

Namikaze smirked in a dangerous way. "I can fix that, but only on condition that you let the process finish."

"No, what you're doing is asking too much of me."

"Then be prepared to die a very painful way Rin." The blonde man told her with no more thought than that, turning his attention to the chakra-cloaked Kiri nin. Yagura had yet to attack, but since he was being controlled by a turtle he likely didn't have 'attack' as a first natural reflex in this state of mind. But he did seem to be more interested in Rin. "I think he's aware you've got his chakra. You better run before he decides to take it back Rin."

The kunoichi did just that, and Yagura pursued her much faster than she expected him to.

-End Flashback-

"So Namikaze tried to turn you into a jinchuuriki." Naruto noted and Rin nodded. "I guess you were his experiment to see if he could do it to himself later."

"I suppose so." Rin replied.

"And since he can't make himself contain Kurama-kun, he got my son involved to get the next best result." Kushina added.

Kyuubi nodded. "An Uzumaki jinchuuriki that _would_ obey him."

"Despite the pain I was in, which I think was from my body trying to reject the new chakra. I managed to outrun the jinchuuriki and get back in Konoha territory." Rin continued. "My only thought at the time was to get to the Uzumaki's before my seal exploded and have them do something about it."

"Let me guess, you weren't able to." Hinata offered.

Rin shook her head. "No, I didn't."

Naruto was confused. "So how did you avoid being turned into a chakra bomb?"

"This is where Obito-kun's story and mine combine." Rin continued.

-Flashback-

'I can feel it getting worse.' Rin thought as her abdominal area ached more. 'I might not have much time left. But at least I'm nearing Konoha. I recognize this stretch of forest. I've got to get to Konoha and quickly. Maybe Kushina-san or another Uzumaki can fix this.'

"You're not getting away from us!" A man shouted from behind her.

'Why are Kiri hunter-nin after me in the first place?' Rin asked herself. 'They've been pursuing me ever since Kawa no Kuni. Can they sense the bijuu chakra and plan to take it back?' She then mentally gasped. 'No wait, they've chased but they've made little effort to catch or kill. It's more like they're just following me while ensuring I don't slow down.'

For some reason, Rin hadn't actually needed to slow down. The trip to Konoha from the location of her attempted sealing was about two days away from Konoha, but she had made the majority of the distance in one day. She theorized that the Sanbi's chakra was giving her a boast of stamina and energy for the trip, and hopefully diluting it enough that it wouldn't be too dangerous to herself.

'If that's the case then me going to Konoha will only help them. Maybe they know I'm a charka bomb and want me to make it to Konoha to destroy it. Did Sensei tell them about me? Why would he? Are they working for him and will try to divert me away from Konoha if I get too close?'

In her panic her mind was racing a mile a minute hoping to find something she could use, while her body was on autopilot and still making its way to Konoha despite the potential threat she was, all in hopes of adverting the danger. In such a state she didn't notice Kakashi come up beside her.

"Rin!" He yelled, snapping her back to reality.

"Kakashi-kun!" She said in relief. "You've got to help me! Sensei, he did something to me that has put us all at risk!"

"I know. Don't worry, I'm here to help fix it." He told her.

"You can help. Oh thank you Kakashi-kun."

"Hide for a moment, I'll get rid of these two." Kakashi told her, then turned around to face the Kiri hunter-nin.

Trusting her teammate Rin changed her path and hid behind a tree for a moment. 'Can I still use jutsu like this? No, I better not. That might speed up the process. I need to just hold tight and trust in Kakashi-kun to get rid of them. He's more than strong enough to do so.'

Closing her eyes to rest for a few seconds, Rin could hear the distinctive crackling of Kakashi's lightning jutsu. 'Wait, that sounds too close.'

She opened her eyes and saw the last thing she would ever expect: her teammate running at her with his one original jutsu.

The shock was too much for Rin's reflexes to kick it immediately, therefore by the time she tried to dodge it was too late. She managed to turn around but the chidori pierced her from behind, hitting her in her stomach just under her lungs and heart.

"Kakashi... why?" Rin asked, blood starting to drip out of her mouth.

Kakashi just smirked under his mask. "Sorry, Rin. You were disobeying Sensei. That simply is not allowed. Ever. We can't risk you getting to Konoha and either exploding there or getting the Uzumaki's to fix you. That will ruin everything he has planned. This is the only way to ensure you don't make a mess."

Rin saw the Kiri nin land in front of her, but they changed in a puff of smoke into two of Kakashi's dog summons. 'He was tracking me this whole time?' Now she understood how Kakashi had found her in the first place, and why they hadn't attacked her. But there was still one thing she didn't understand.

"Kakashi, do you realize... what Sensei was doing to me?" She asked, pausing to cough up some blood.

Kakahsi withdrew his arm and let her fall to her knees, clutching her heavily bleeding wound. He whipped his arm through the air once to get some of her blood off it. He gave her a look of regret, but it was for her actions, not his own. "You were supposed to be on our side Rin. You were supposed to be loyal to Sensei, no matter what the cost to yourself or others may be."

"Not like this. Whether or not I risk my life should be my choice, not his." Rin stated, attempting a healing jutsu despite her chakra not working properly. 'Why am I not dead yet? I know the location of this wound isn't an instant kill, but I should be dead by now. Is the bijuu chakra keeping me alive a bit longer?'

"That's not how it works Rin. Loyalty means you make no choices, you just do as you're told. Simple as that. Your leader makes the choices and you obey. Refusing to makes you a traitor." Kakashi answered.

Rin frowned. "That's not loyalty Kakashi, that's blind obedience."

"There's no difference between the two Rin. You'd know that if loyalty meant anything to you like it does to me. But enough talking, you're doomed to die and I've wasted enough time listening to your last words. Better luck in your next life Rin." Kakashi coldly stated before he and his ninken left. He had purposely aimed his chidori to avoid killing her right away in case that would have triggered an explosion, and he hoped he still had enough time to get away before she went off.

As a medic, Rin knew stomach wounds gave the victim a slow agonizing death, usually by having the internal acids spill into the body cavity and eating them from the inside combined with massive bleeding. She could feel both effects and was getting lightheaded, but she also felt like her body was resisting the damage, healing itself.

Before she could truly determine the cause, Rin heard another person appear, and she prayed this person was here to help.

"Rin! Oh Kami-sama please don't die on me!" The masked man said, then the mask sort of peeled apart to show a familiar face.

"Obito? You're alive? How?" Rin asked, laying on her side.

"Not important. Spiral, Spike, please help me save her." Obito said.

"If you say so." Spike said, though Rin had no idea who was actually speaking. Next thing she knew she was engulfed by some sort of mass from behind.

-End Flashback-

"Your own teammate tried to kill you?" Naruto asked. 'Now I'm even happier I avoided being on that man's team. With that kind of attitude, I'd be lucky to be taught how to walk up trees. Heck he'd probably teach the teme and banshee how to kill me.'

Rin nodded. "Yep, all because Traitor told him to. I'm sure he was told why, but I'm even more sure he didn't need to be told why to do it."

"Didn't he care about you at all?" Naruto asked.

"Maybe to some degree, but his desire to serve Namikaze trumps all other feelings in him. I'm sure he'd kill his own mother if his sensei told him to." Rin commented.

"Why? What could make a man_ that_ damn obedient?" Naruto asked, feeling a bit angry but he wasn't sure why.

"Kakashi's always been a bit needy for Namikaze's approval, ever since his father died." Kushina answered solemnly. "His father Hatake Sakumo had been a hero in Konoha in my youth. But on one mission a while ago he abandoned the directive to save his teammates from a disaster. He suffered a lot of stigma for it, hated by even the people he saved, and ended up taking his own life to atone for his supposed mistake."

"What mistake? He saved his teammates. Was he supposed to let them die?" Hinata asked, just as bothered as Naruto was. "How could Konoha let a great hero be treated like that? He saved his teammates but in the end they spit on him? It almost like Konoha _wants_ people to be selfish."

"The details of the mission were classified, as are almost all missions. So I can't tell you exactly what was supposed to happen." Kushina explained, taking a deep breath. "I understand how you feel Hinata. All I know is Sakumo was labelled quite negatively and couldn't handle all the propaganda against him. His son Kakashi had since then strived his hardest to convince all of Konoha he will not repeat his father's 'mistake' and not value the mission and obeying the chain of command over personal thoughts. I think Kakashi has basically convinced himself that breaking the rules is worse than letting someone die, be it at his hands or anothers."

"I tried to convince him otherwise." Obito added. "I tried to get him to realize that a rule doesn't feel anything when it's broken but a person sure does. I had hoped my supposed death would snap him into realizing the importance of human life and keeping comrades alive despite mission orders. But I guess it didn't work." He then scoffed, touching his face where the scar is. "Figures, I couldn't break my clan of their paradigm. What made me think I could break Kakashi of his?"

"At least you tried Obito-kun. You never gave up. That's something I always have admired in you, even before I saw Kakashi's true colors." Rin said, gently holding his hand. Obito relaxed and put his arm around her.

"Also, I suspect Kakashi overvalues Namikaze's praise." Kushina added. "I mean, Namikaze helped him work past his grief over losing his father, and I think Kakashi basically sees Namikaze as the father he always wanted. He'll do anything to get any sort of acknowledgement from him. Like a son starved for affection from a father who doesn't give it indiscriminately."

Naruto frowned deeply. "You mean, like what Namikaze intended me to be?"

Kushina thought it over. "Actually it does make sense. I guess you could say Kakashi already is what Namikaze intended you to become."

"Maybe that's why Namikaze wanted Naruto raised as he was." Kyuubi mentioned. "Kakashi's example would make Namikaze think that no child tries harder to please a parent than an orphan. The more desperate the orphan, the more obedient they are."

Everyone nodded at this, Namikaze's motives becoming more clear to them during this entire conversation. None of them supported these motives of course, but it felt nice to be able to answer the terrible question of 'Why?'.

"I have only three questions now." Hinata mentioned. "How did Rin avoid becoming a bomb? You never explained that."

"That's easy." Obito said, then looked into the woods. "You can come out now."

From two trees Spike and Spiral emerged like they were budding out of it. Spiral still looked like he had originally but now Spike had sort of matured to a more human look with two arms and legs but they were covered in spikes.

"These are the Zetsu I'm assuming?" Hinata asked, seeing the strange white-skinned green-haired humanoids.

"Yep, though thanks to these two we have real names now." Spike said.

"Anyway, with their help we were able to siphon off the extra chakra in Rin and heal her in the process. I guess you could say we disarmed the bomb." Obito explained.

"Okay." Hinata replied, then faced Kushina and Kyuubi. "How did you two find them?"

"That's mostly my doing." Kyuubi admitted. "You see, this girl was given a connection to my brother Isobu. Not as strong a connection as he has to Yagura, but a connection nonetheless. When you guys were dealing with Yagura. I was talking to Isobu and he whispered to me he could feel Rin's presence in the world. I told him I'd check it out for him and with some effort was able to track her down."

"How? Shouldn't the connection be lost without his chakra in her anymore?" Naruto asked.

"I didn't exactly lose it." Rin said, before channeling her own chakra to give herself a faint red aura. "It was diluted and removed, but I think a bit of it remained with me and is preserved in my reserves." She then cancelled out the aura.

"It has happened before." Kyuubi said. "Two boys from Kumo experienced essentially the same thing with my chakra, making them psuedo-jinchuuriki. Meaning they don't actually have one of us sealed in them, but they happen to have a portion of our chakra permanently settled in their system. Rin here is a psuedo-jinchuuriki for the Sanbi, and I found her by tracking that chakra in her."

"That's interesting." Naruto asked. 'I wonder if that's what I am now even with the change to hanyou.' He then looked to Hinata, his eyes slightly widened. 'Could that happen to both of us? She was exposed to Kyuubi's chakra too.'

"My last question is what have you two been doing all this time, and will you help us in our goal of taking down Namikaze once and for all?" Hinata asked.

"You really think you can defeat that man? Are you crazy?" Rin asked.

"The guy killed Uchiha Madara, someone even the Shodai Hokage couldn't do. He's the only man to this day with a 'flee on sight' order issued towards, even with the world thinking he's dead. He's got thousands of Zetsus stored away and clearly isn't missing the two we have. What makes you two kids think you can kill him?" Obito asked.

"No one is undefeatable." Naruto declared. "Even if it means we have to kill him in his sleep or poison his food, he _can_ be killed. He's doesn't have to be beaten in battle you know."

"I'm surprised how often ninja forget that." Kyuubi thought out loud.

"But even opposing him that way is next to impossible" Rin countered, though a part of her was hopeful. "You have to get close enough to do all that without him noticing and somehow get past what security measures he has. You have to realize that possible or not there is no easy way to do what you're planning."

"So that's it? Give up just because it's not easy?" The whiskered blonde asked, irritated.

"No, we're not Naras. But we know Namikaze better than you do. Maybe even better than Kushina-san did. Trust us when we say you can't win." Rin warned.

"Of course we can't win. Not if we fought him now or by ourselves. So we're not doing that. We're building up strength, and undermining his own. Waiting for the right time and circumstance to fight him on more even ground, or even when we have the high ground. We will not rush into battle simply for the sake of the fight or for vengeance, we will be smart about this, and we will be merciless as well."

Kushina smiled proudly. "Spoken like a true ninja. I'm proud of you Son."

Naruto smiled, feeling very glad to hear that from her.

Hinata nodded. "We know this isn't easy. We know this could take years to accomplish. We know Namikaze isn't the only threat to prepare for and even if we get a hundred times stronger than we already are we still can lose to him. That's why we're asking for your help. Every bit of help makes the odds of defeating him increase, even if just by one percent. But someone has to make a stand, or else Namikaze is going to succeed. Why aren't you willing to stand up to him? Do you want him to succeed?"

"You don't understand girl." Obito said, then pulled back his right sleeve to show off his arm. From his palm sprouted a tiny tree and then was withdrawn. "Namikaze is using the Zetsus. It's very likely he has ways to destroy them in case one turned against him. Both Rin and myself have Zetsu's incorporated into our bodies. He could kill us just by snapping his fingers if he wanted to. Nothing we do, no amount of preparation we make, can save us from that. All we can do is prevent him from learning we're still alive. It was hard enough faking my own death when he came back to check on me."

Namikaze of course had to go back to Obito's chamber at one point to see his recovery and if the Uchiha would join his side. But when he got there the place was collapsed and the charred remains of three beings were left there, easily identifiable as two Zetsus and one half-human/half-Zetsu male. Namikaze sighed at his loss and worked on excavating the source of the Zetsus in secret. He never knew the charred remains were two underdeveloped Zetsus and the half-man was really a cleaved corpse Obito found and re-purposed.

"So that's it then? You're just going to hide and hope Namikaze dies before you do?" Naruto asked. "You'll be spending the rest of your life doing that then since you have no way of knowing when he dies. Wouldn't you rather actually try something? Wouldn't you risk your life to get a sense of freedom again?"

"Easy for you to say." Obito muttered.

Naruto's eyes flared, a strange thing to see in a rinnegan. "Easy for me to say?" He repeated angry. "You may have been his students, but I was that man's son. How do you think_ I_ feel about all this regarding him? How did you think I feel knowing that a man I once idolized intentionally designed my life to become nothing more than his puppet? That before I was born he intended to kill me when my job was done? I know I may die fighting him, he can kill me just as easily as he could kill you. But I'd rather die fighting than die waiting."

Hinata nodded. "He's right. You two might be content to hide in the wilderness with your plant buddies, spending the rest of your lives with one eye over your shoulder, but Naruto-kun and I are going to actually do something about the one threatening our lives. You can either help us or stay out of our way, but unless you plan to kill us you can't stop us."

Obito and Rin were silent, as was everyone else in the area. Kushina and Kyuubi were smiling, joyed by the fact these two teenagers who were written off as nobodies had more willpower than most prodigies. Even better, the two knew they needed strength to back it up, and patience to get it and use it the right way.

Obito smiled. "You kids are alright in my book. You know what? I think I will help you out."

"Really?" Naruto and Hinata asked together.

The scarred Uchiha nodded. "Sure. Why not? It does get tiring always being afraid. And like you said we can't stop you without killing you and we have no reason to do that. So why not see how far you can go with our help?" He turned to his striped-cheeked companion and the two clones. "Rin-chan? Spiral? Spike? You in?"

"Where you go I go Obito." Spiral answered.

Rin slowly looked reassured. "Our biggest problem was we had no one to help us stand up to Traitor. If we can get enough help, we might actually stand a chance."

"Sounds good to me." Spike claimed.

"No offense, but why are these guys still with you? Isn't their loyalty to Namikaze?" Naruto asked.

"People and plants both flourish better when directly cared for." Rin told him. "To Namikaze, these two were just two more blades of grass on a field. Not worth noticing the presence or absence of. To us, they were helpers and companions who just needed a little guidance. Trust me, if a plant could do it, it would leave a neglected garden for a tended one. That's what these two did."

"They even helped me get a left eye again." Obito said, pointing to his formally empty socket, filled with a regenerated sharingan eye he could turn on and off at will like his right one.

"So what happens next?" Kyuubi asked. "Kushina and I have some more business to attend to in this world, so what will you do now? Naruto, Hinata, I recommend having you two come back to Shobikou for more training. Why don't you let these two track down the remaining jinchuuriki for a time? They have plenty of experience in getting around unnoticed after all."

Naruto and Hinata thought it over. "You guys even know who to look for?" Naruto asked.

Rin nodded. "We know one. But only one. We were on our way to go see him just before we were found. We can pass along the message for you. After that, I think the best we can do is try to see how far our shared enemy's influence is."

"Good enough for me." Kushina said. "Alright kids, let's go home."

Naruto and Hinata nodded, then they along with Kushina and Kyuubi disappeared into smoke, leaving Rin, Obito, and their two Zetsus to clear the campsite and alert the jinchuuriki they had in mind.

"You think we might actually survive all this Obito-kun?" Rin asked.

"What didn't kill us made us stronger. Maybe it's time to truly see how strong."


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

Back in Shobikou Naruto and Hinata were taking a break from sage training and enjoying something they hadn't bothered to enjoy before. Time among the other foxes.

In all their time after leaving Konoha, Naruto and Hinata had spent most of their time in Kuo training or the Elemental Nations trying to work on their skills or goals. They had yet to spend much time with any foxes besides Kyuubi, and decided that should change. Especially since they themselves were part fox and that was unlikely to change anytime soon if ever.

They were in the town outside Kuo, the same village they arrived in first in Shobikou. And judging from the looks of it, there was a festival going on. Everyone was getting busy for the festival. Games stands were setting up, children were running around excited to see what games will be played, and vendors were starting their special sales already.

"Imagine, all those times I had to hide from Konoha when it had a festival involving a fox, and here I am in one being held by foxes." Naruto causally mentioned while walking down the street. Both he and Hinata were showing their fox features since they had no reason to hide them in this populous. They felt as they were at home, as no one was glaring them but instead smiling at them and waving at them.

"I think we'll enjoy this one much more. After all, it wasn't created to be used against you." Hinata told him.

According to Sarutobi's records, Konoha's annual victory-over-the-Kyuubi festival was mostly a sham, it's creation existing for two real reasons despite what the village thought. The first was to help with the ruse of Namikaze being dead, for a festival honoring his sacrifice would help reinforce the facade, so in that sense the village was correct. But the other reason was to give the anti-Naruto people an excuse to act out against him, an excuse to release their pent-up anger and frustration, with the fact it was also his birthday making it all that much sweeter to them.

One could only imagine how Naruto felt when he learned Sarutobi created the festival not only knowing mobs would try to kill him, but desiring that action as well. Though he always made sure Naruto never actually died, but came close to it year after year.

Naruto smiled. "Yep, no one's going to attack me and no one's going to keep you on a leash. So tell me Hinata-chan, what's something you've always wanted to do at one of these things no Hyuuga would let you do before?"

She looped her arm around his and leaned against him. "I'm already doing that. Being with you."

Flattered, Naruto put his arm around her. She purred a bit, making him remember something Kyuubi told him in private a while ago.

-Flashback-

"Naruto, now that you're a kitsune hanyou, you should know a bit about being a kitsune." Kyuubi told the former blonde one day in Kuo.

"Such as?" Naruto asked.

"I'll start with the one I'm most sure you'll have to put to use someday, which is kitsune courtship. Or as you'd best understand, dating." Kyuubi started. He saw he had Naruto's attention and continued. "For the most part it's not too different than how humans do it. A male and female spend time together doing stuff they enjoy, both in public and in private, in an effort to see what kind of relationship they best enjoy."

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, I get that part."

"What makes it different between us and humans is what happens when a relation becomes official." Kyuubi added. "Humans have weddings, but we generally do not. We instead mark our mates with a bite and have sex with them. The action creates a bond that's more than enough to consider a lifetime union to us, so ceremonies are unnecessary."

"But I've heard of legends telling about kitsune weddings." Naruto commented.

"I said unnecessary, not nonexistent." Kyuubi said pointing it out again. "Wedding ceremonies do happen for us, but they're mostly for show and done for high class kitsune who want their union known to all. Some kitsune prefer not wasting money on such things, or see no reason to make their mating such a spectacle. The important part of mating is the mark and the consummation."

"Consummation?" Naruto repeated, confused and unfamiliar with the word.

Kyuubi pinched the bridge of his nose. 'This part's not going to be fun. I wonder how Hinata is going through the talk with Kushina-chan. I just hope it's uncomfortable for them too, that way this is fair.'

"In short, having sex with your mate to make the bond complete." Kyuubi defined once he stopped struggling with himself. He withheld a chuckle seeing the boy turn as red as his hair. "Relax, you don't have to worry about that yet. I'm only saying it now so you don't try and have sex with a girl you don't want to have as your wife. Because unlike humans who can and do have sex with anyone, we mate only with our mates. Hence the term 'mate' for both the partner and the act. You no longer have the option of having one-night stands like perverse humans, it's either for life or not at all. The same goes for Hinata."

"Neither of us are like that." Naruto insisted, holding his arms close to his chest. "I'm not even sure what kind of relationship we will have."

Kyuubi nodded. "True, but I felt it was best to warn you now before you made a mistake. Also, there's one more thing you should know about. It's a certain biological aspect of our kind that involves mating. Have you noticed that you and I have more than one tail but Kushina-chan and Hinata both only have one?"

"Yeah, and that surprised me. I mean, shouldn't Mom have more tails than me? She's older and stronger."

"She is, but that's not how it works. You see, only the male kitsune has multiple tails. The vixen, no matter how strong she is, can only ever have one. Don't let this fool you, this doesn't mean they're weaker than a two-tailed male. Female kitsunes can have a lot of power. They just don't show it with their tails."

"Why?" Naruto asked.

"It's mostly just designed by nature that way. You know how the male of many species is designed to be more eye-grabbing than the female. Birds, deer, lions, apes, the male is always more colorful, bigger, or in some way imposing, while the female is much less by comparison. This however ensures the female is more likely to be ignored by threats so they can stay safe and protect their young. We kitsune do the same thing with our tails. The male displays their strength with their tails to make us look more intimidating to our opponents."

"So even though Mom and Hinata-chan have enough strength to have more than one tail, they can't grow more than one so they deceive other people into thinking they're weaker than they actually are?" Naruto asked. "So in other words they are using their image as a deception tricking others. Like a natural henge."

"Exactly."

"But then, why don't the males have just one tail too?" Naruto asked.

"That's just how nature designed us. Anyway, the reason I bring this up in the first place is because our tails do more than showcase our power, they also showcase our fertility. Basically, the more tails a male fox has, the more kits he can have. So our kind has a bit of a custom. For every tail a male has, he's allowed an equal number of mates. Meaning as you are, if you wanted you could have three wives and I could have nine."

"What?" Naruto asked, shocked by the idea but not in a good way. He heard about the CRA in Konoha but never though kitsunes would have something like this in their world as well. He heard about normal foxes only mating with one vixen for their lives, but he also heard others just get together during a mating season then leave, so he wasn't sure what to expect from the demon foxes.

"I said if you wanted. It's not mandatory. In fact, most foxes prefer keeping just one mate. Some do prefer more, but not a lot. I'm just letting you know the option does exist."

"Why would anyone allow this?" Naruto asked. "I was always taught that relationships were only ever supposed to be one guy and one girl. Period, end of story. One guy but several girls, that makes no sense."

Kyuubi shrugged. "To be honest, I think it was started by a bunch of vixens hoping to become my mate back when I was really young, and it had to spread out to other foxes for it to truly be fair. At the time I wasn't interested in having a mate so it didn't work, but other males got involved and so it sort of stayed to the point it's now part of our culture. As for being taught how love should work, keep in mind it was Konoha that taught you that."

Naruto sighed. "Yeah, you have a point. I'd prefer to learn about this sort of emotion on my own if you don't mind."

Kyuubi smiled. "Naruto, that's the only way you can truly learn how to love. Now, the other thing you need to know is how sex works. It start with a man and a woman..."

-End Flashback-

'I wonder where Kyuubi-sensei and Mom are now.' Naruto asked himself, not wanting to think too much about the rest of that memory. Not with Hinata right there by his side, tempting him.

Little did he know Hinata was tempted too. Back with the Hyuuga, her sex education had been best summarized as 'Don't do it'. Actually that might have been the entire talk, given that it can come from Kurenai. It was only thanks to reading about the subject that she learned anything about intercourse, and Kushina had helped fill in the gaps and correct any misinformation.

'Someday...' Hinata told herself, enjoying the present, but looking forward to the future.

_(AN: Just to clarify, I've only created the possibility for a harem here, I have not promised anything. This can still be a pure NaruHina, or it can become more later on._)

* * *

"Tsunade-sama, you need to stop staying out this late."

"You're not my mother Shizune. I'm not even drunk."

"No but you're not as young as you used to be. If you keep pretending otherwise-"

"Shizune, I wouldn't finish that sentence if I were you."

The two medic ninja were walking down a street in one of the random towns of Hi no Kuni, a town that of course had multiple casinos in it. Tsunade never went to a town without one, not even to take a restroom break in her travels. She no longer had to of course, thanks to years of traveling enabling her to keep a mental map of all the gambling towns in the country and the best routes from one to the other. Knowing what to avoid but also how to get there with no problem.

The streets were clearing with people going home for the night, so they were left alone. Tsunade tried to walk but she did have difficulty doing so in a straight line, so her assistant had to guide her along the way, despite the sannin's protest.

Two people came towards them at a casual but purposeful pace, and Tsunade stopped. "I think some creditors are here." She whispered. Shizune tensed too, knowing that when they were caught by people wanting owed money things never turned out well.

The two people were a man and a woman who stood before the kunoichi. "Well well, Senju Tsunade and Kato Shizune, it hasn't been long enough." The woman stated.

"Listen, I don't carry money on me so you'll have to let me get to my hotel to get it first." Tsunade said, using her first tactic for an escape plan. It didn't always work but if the creditors weren't smart it bought her enough time to use something more effective.

"Good to know, but we're not here for money. The payment we want is different." The man said.

"If it's my body you want, take hers." Tsunade said before pushing Shizune forward a bit. "She's younger and much more appealing than mine. You'd get your money's worth out of her."

Both the man and woman looked appalled. "You'd offer sex to get yourself out of a debt? And not only that, you expect your pupil to be the one to actually commit the transaction in your place?"

"All that alcohol must have killed your heart, not just your liver." The woman stated venomously.

'She looks familiar.' Tsunade thought, unable to clearly recognize the woman in the dark light and the effect of a lot of sake in her.

"It's okay, I know my duty as an apprentice is to do whatever my master orders." Shizune said, hoping to avoid a fight if that's what they really came here for.

"And you offer no objections?" The woman asked. "Is this _not_ the first time she's done this to you?"

"You don't understand, Tsunade-sama is all I have. I refuse to disappoint her, and if that means I have to take a hit for her, I'll take it." Shizune justified.

"This isn't taking a hit. She's whoring you out to save herself. By your analogy you're not jumping to take a kunai for her, she's actually pushing you in front of it to save herself. How can you take that and ask for more?" The man asked.

"Are you taking the offer or not? "Tsunade asked, wanting some kind of answer instead of more talk.

The man looked at her and hit his empty palm with his fist. "We're not here for money or sex. We're here to kick your ass. Both of them."

Shizune looked nervous and Tsunade looked mad. "You think you can beat me? A sannin?"

"Yes." They both said in unison with certainty.

Tsunade cracked her knuckles. "Alright, I don't know why you're doing this and frankly I don't care, but I'm not going to lay here and take it."

The woman smirked. "You really don't know who I am, do you? Then again it has been thirteen years, and you never truly bothered to know anything about me. To you, I was just a monster. Now let's see how right you were."

Tsunade narrowed her eyes hearing that line. Something she used only for one person long ago. "Who are you?"

The woman's smirk grew. "The bane of your existence, as you once called me. Personally, I prefer my real name, Kushina."

"You don't deserve to know my name." Her partner, Kyuubi, added defiantly.

Both Tsunade and Shizune looked at her in surprise and disbelief. "That's impossible. She's dead." Looking at Kushina seeing her hood down, both Tsunade and Shizune stared at her shock.

"I _was_ dead." Kushina replied. "But not anymore".

Tsunade narrowed her eyes. "Now I recognize you. If that's a henge, not a smart choice, and if you're really her, it was even less smart to show your face around me you bitch."

Shizune frowned just as venomously. "You don't deserve to live."

Kushina was completely fearless. Staring at both of them she defiantly smirked and cracked her knuckles. "Go ahead, try your worst. What can you do to me that hasn't already been done?"

"I'll kill you." Tsunade proclaimed, aiming one of her best punches at the redhead's head with intent to knock it into the next hemisphere while leaving the body here.

Kushina ducked down and used her claws to cut into both sides of Tsunade's abdomen before reappearing behind her. "You already have."

Tsunade put her hands on her wounds, which probably wasn't smart as she could feel her blood and froze up. 'B-blood?' In the back of her mind she hated herself for this fear, as it now gave her a weakness in a battle she really didn't want to lose. Dropping onto her knees 'No, I must fight this. I cannot let Dan-kun's killer win. I can't. I won't!'

While she was trying to reassert herself, Shizune attempted to attack Kushina from behind with a kunai. However, Kyuubi intercepted and knocked the kunai out of her hands. "You want to fight someone? I'll keep you entertained."

"You're not the one I want to kill, but if you're with her you probably deserve to die anyway." Shizune proclaimed before using her hidden senbon launcher under her sleeve to attack him.

Kyuubi raised an arm and took all the hits, but he looked annoyed more than hurt. "Surely you know senbon have a low fatality rate, and coating them with venom only works if the victim's got a weak body." Lifting his hand up he pushed chakra into it sending the senbon back at her. Shizune at the last moment jumped away, surprised by such a maneuver.

"Then I'll have to try something more direct." The short-haired medic said before doing some hand signs and inhaling deeply. "Ninja Art Poison Fog." She suddenly exhaled a cloud of dark purple gas. Kyuubi surprised her by running into the cloud. "What the-?" She was cut off by him emerging and tackling her hard, shoving her to the ground and pinning her there.

"Poisonous vapors also only work if the victim inhales." The fox-in-human-form added. "Before I try to kill you, tell me one thing. Why do you hate Kushina so much?"

"Why shouldn't I? She killed my uncle!" Shizune insisted.

"How close were you to him? If he had been your father that's one thing, but an uncle? Besides, it's been over twenty years, shouldn't you be over it by now? Please tell me you're not hating her just because you believe you're _supposed_ to."

"How close I was to my uncle is irrelevant." Shizune argued. "She killed him and that's a good enough reason for me."

"Actually it isn't, since at the moment that seems to be the sole basis for your hatred of that woman. Unless you have other reasons, your relationship with your uncle is very relevant. So tell me, how close were you to him? Or do you perhaps have another reason you've yet to give?"

"Again, none of your business." Shizune objected while trying to get out from under him. 'Dammit, my arms are kept apart so I can't reach for any weapons or make hand signs. Wait, there's one way I can attack.' She smirked then quickly raised her leg to knee her captor in the groin.

To her surprise, he didn't even flinch. In fact her knee was the one hurt, as if she had struck metal.

"I'm not so stupid as to fight two trained women and not protect that part of myself beforehand. Nice try though." Kyuubi gloated. 'Kit thank you for the advice.'

Meanwhile, Kushina had come up behind Tsunade and grabbed her head in a brace, making it clear she could snap the old woman's neck if she wanted to. "Any last words bitch?"

All of a sudden Tsunade grabbed both of Kushina's arms and squeezed, trying to snap the bones. When the redhead's grip loosened the slug sannin managed to throw her over herself a good number of meters to crash in the ground. Huffing, Tsunade stretched her neck and got back on her feet, clenching her fists.

"I'm not going to let some blood stop me from spilling yours you slut." Tsunade declared, using her chakra to burn the alcohol out of her system.

Kushina got to her feet too and frowned. "I tried telling you what happened that night, but no, you just will not listen. So be it, you want to delude yourself rather than face the fact your precious Dan wasn't so noble then suit yourself."

Tsunade looked much more angry now. "How dare you continue to slander Dan-kun? It was bad enough you murdered him, but you continue to say he deserved it?" She cocked her fist and ran at Kushina like some kind of berserker and the target is Kushina head.

Kushina was no stranger to this fighting style, if one could call it that since it was more of a strike-until-you-hit-something type of fighting rather than true taijutsu. So she knew how to easily avoid and counter it.

She stood still and waited, waiting for Tsunade to get closer. When she did, Kushina nimbly moved around her and used her claws to slash her sides again. Tsunade winced at the cuts but couldn't respond because she had to come to a complete stop first, giving Kushina the perfect chance to attack from behind.

"Chakra Chain Confinement." Kushina said, holding her arms up and letting several chakra chains emerge from her and wrap around Tsunade several times. These chains were different from her normal golden ones, these ones were red, looking like they had been made from rubies.

Tsunade struggled but the chains were not giving. "Dammit! You really are a monster you know that?"

Kushina shook her head. "No I'm not. I'm just a kunoichi. Don't tell me if you could chain me up you wouldn't."

"You're right, I would, but you deserve it." Tsunade threatened, only to get pulled by the chains and planted on the ground. Kushina created more chains to pin her down.

"Better do the same here Kushina." Kyuubi advised.

"Wait, I'll cooperate." Shizune pleaded.

"Somehow I doubt that very much." Kyuubi replied, then moved away. Shizune got to her feet but right away Kushina engulfed her in reds chains as well and pinned her to the ground. Both medics were kept apart from each other in the off-chance they had some sort of collaboration tactic.

"What do you want? Weren't you going to kill us?" Tsunade asked, sending the two dark glares, particularly Kushina .How is she alive? It's impossible. And these chains are different. What happened?'

"Oh we will, but we might as well get some answers first." Kushina told her.

"What makes you think we're going to tell you a damn thing?" Tsunade argued.

"No, we know you're not going to do it easily. But maybe once your spirit is broken one of you will be willing to talk." Kushina said.

"What do you plan to do?" Shizune asked.

"Just show you two a little something you refused to listen to before." Kushina stated. "The truth of Dan's death."

Tsunade frowned, offended. "We already know that."

"You weren't there, so you don't know. You _can't_ know. All you know is what you _want_ to know, what you _want_ to believe. Well, now you can know the truth, whether you like it or not." The redhead replied, then looked to Kyuubi. "Ready?"

He nodded. "Ready." With that he placed both hands on the medics foreheads. "Kitsune Art: Forced Memory View Jutsu." Like what Naruto did with Gaara, Kyuubi was going to force these women to see a memory of his. A memory he shared with Kushina.

* * *

A young pre-genin Kushina was struggling to get free from her confinements, tears leaking out of her eyes while she looked at the silhouettes of some men standing above her. Whether it was a trick of the light or some sort of masking jutsu the girl didn't know, but she couldn't identify them by appearance. She could feel several suppression seals on her and a table underneath her, but nothing else.

"So this is the one?"

"Yes, the Shodai's wife just passed recently, but not before taking the fox out of herself and putting it in this one. The seal should still be fresh and vulnerable to tickering." This voice sounded older and more authoritative than the rest, making Kushina think he was the one in charge.

"But Hanzo-sama, what will we do with the fox?"

"I'm told only an Uzumaki can contain it, but so far only Uzumaki have tried. I find that claim doubtful, but in the off-chance it is true, I've acquired another Uzumaki to use. He's being held right now along with his two companions." The one identified as Hanzo replied.

"Pardon me for asking, but why transfer the fox at all then? Why not just reprogram this girl and make her an Ame-nin? It would be much easier but also less resources would be wasted in the process of changing containers."

"Two reasons. If this works we'll know for sure how to keep the fox contained for future sealings. Also, this girl may have any kind of seals on her designed to ensure she can't serve any village other than Konoha. I'm positive this method is better in the long run." Hanzo answered, already thinking of the possibilities but also knowing the Sandaime won't easily give up their jinchuuriki.

'They're trying to take Kyuubi out of me.' Kushina realized, feeling more grief than she expected to. 'Mito-obasama trusted me to contain the fox, I can't let her down. Somehow I've got to get out of here and back to Konoha.'

All of a sudden there was an explosion and one of the walls to the roof was no longer there. One of the Ame nin was crushed by the debris, but everyone else including Kushina was covered by dust and small bits of rubble. But no one could see the cause of the blast.

"We're under attack." Hanzo said then looked to one of his subordinates. "Tenya, you stay here and ensure the girl remains our captive. Everyone else, come with me." The subordinate nodded and everyone else left.

The now-named Tenya came to Kushina, making her nervous. "It's okay, I'm here to help." They whispered, then took off their anti-rain headgear to reveal a redhead woman with green eyes. "I'm an Uzumaki like you. I'm going to take you to our refuge base." She removed the seal preventing Kushina from speaking.

"But I thought all Uzumaki were moving to Konoha?"

Tenya shook her head. "Uzushio hasn't fallen yet. Konoha is on their way to support us and we'll pull through the war as strong as ever. A few of us are here to keep Ame from getting involved, but not a lot. I'm here as a sleeper agent to observe Hanzo. Come, let's take you home."

"But my home is Konoha now." Kushina objected while being dragged out of the room by Tenya, who pulled out a black cloak and an umbrella hat.

"Put these on, the only way we're getting out of here is to draw as little attention to each other as possible." Tenya said, putting the hat on Kushina's head. The young girl understood the claim and despite her confusion put on the cloak while now following the older Uzumaki of her own free will.

They had to climb down several sets of stairs and avoid anyone in the halls. When they got outside Kushina was surprised by the sheer density of Ame's characteristic downpour. The streets were deserted but the sounds of fighting could be heard in the distance. Not even the rain could drown out of all the fighting.

"This way." Tenya said, leading Kushina down the street.

After running two blocks, they were halted by an Ame-nin. "You're not go-" He was cut off by Tenya running up to him and jabbing a kunai in his throat. She didn't even slow down and kept running.

Kushina was shocked but kept following. "You killed him."

"If I hadn't he would have killed me and then you. In this job it's kill or be killed girl. You better remember that." Tenya advised, turning a corner to avoid any other ninja spotting her. This led her into an alley between two buildings that led to a dead end. Undaunted, Tenya picked up Kushina and began to run up the wall, ignoring the rain in her face.

That very rain was the main reason someone else was able to sneak up on her and knock her off the wall. Kushina yelled in fright but didn't separate from the woman as they fell. Fortunately Tenya was able to land on her legs, although it hurt quite a bit even with chakra flowing through them.

"Hand her over. She belongs back in Konoha." The ambusher ordered. This man was Kato Dan.

"No, Uzushio needs her more." Tenya insisted. "We need to take the Kyuubi out of her and put it into a shinobi that can fight more effectively immediately. Otherwise we might actually lose this war."

Kushina looked at the woman with wide eyes. 'She plans on taking Kyuubi from me and giving it to someone else? But Mito-obasama trusted me to do this job.'

Dan shook his head. "Not going to happen. Konoha has sole claim to Kyuubi and by default anyone containing it. That girl is for all legal purposes and intents the property of Konoha, and she's coming with me no matter what you say."

Tenya grabbed Kushina. "The only way you're getting this girl from me is by killing me."

Dan pulled out some shuriken and threw them. Tenya moved in front of Kushina and with one kunai in each hand managed to deflect all the shuriken in a flexible display of her arms. Dan threw some more and Tenya repeated the motion. While she was busy, Dan did some hand signs for a jutsu.

"Ninja Art Spirit Transfer Jutsu."

A ghostly image of Dan left his body and flew over Tenya, while his body collapsed. The spirit, much to Tenya's shock, came to Kushina and hit her before disappearing. Kushina stiffened briefly then relaxed and smiled.

"Good, I've taken her over. Now I can kill you in a body you won't hurt." Dan's voice said in Kushina's mouth.

"That's low Konoha-san." Tenya complained, then went to Dan's body and placed her kunai by his throat in a threatening way.

Dan-in-Kushina shrugged. "Good ahead. But let me warn you that if my body dies whatever body my spirit is inhabiting dies with it. So kill me, kill this girl."

Tenya withheld herself, not wanting to find out if he was bluffing. But she din't have much time to think of a counter-strategy, as Kushina's body began to glow red.

Dan-in-Kushina smirked. "So this is Kyuubi's power. Feels strong. I wonder how strong I can make this girl." A tail began to appear behind her.

"Don't do this. You'll be drawing out the sensors and bringing in more enemies." Tenya pleaded, while carefully reaching for a special bijuu suppression seal given to help her if Kushina resisted.

"Good, let them come. I want to see how good I can fight like this. Maybe with this I can finally become Hokage even without that skank Tsunade endorsing me for it." Dan-in-Kushina said like a madman, using his chakra to effectively draw out Kyuubi's own and give the girl's body a second tail. "With luck this chakra will rub off on me and I can use it in my body. Or take it all with me. I'll be unstoppable."

With his momentary distraction in himself, Dan-in-Kushina didn't notice Tenya in time to stop her from applying the seal. He felt a surge of pain and the seal shredded after a few moments, but Dan's spirit was forced out and back into his own body, making Kushina collapse on her knees.

Dan opened his eyes and saw Tenya turn around to try and kill him. Angry, he ran at her as well and pulled out a nodachi sword. But all of a sudden he moved around Tenya and went right for Kushina, who still had the chakra cloak up and it was getting worse. Tenya's seal had only forced out Dan rather than quelch the chakra like it was supposed to.

"If I can't have the Kyuubi no one can!" Dan declared for anyone who could hear it, ready to strike her down.

When he got close Tenya saw blood spray out and loudly gasped. She got closer and saw it wasn't Kushina's blood, but Dan's.

Kushina was on all fours, growling and glaring like an animal, with three chakra tails coming out behind her and curled above her pointing forward. All three were now impaling Dan in the chest, hitting both lungs and his heart while ripping the tissue in the adjacent areas.

"If I die you'll die too little bitch!" Dan announced while throwing his nodachi at Kushina, going through the chakra cloak as hoped and hitting her in the back. The sword impaled deep enough to come out her stomach, making Kushina roar in pain. A fourth tail began to emerge and the chakra began deep red with her blood mixed it.

All Tenya could do was watch while four-tailed Kushina lifted Dan into the air by her tails then hit him with her claws, using enough force that the pale-haired man went flying and disappeared past some buildings. If he somehow survived, Tenya hoped no one would be able to heal him in time.

Four-tailed Kushina snarled and looked at Tenya, who got quite nervous. "Calm down, remember I'm here to-" She never got to finish, for Kushina pounced at her and throw her throat open before the older Uzumaki could counter. Even Uzumaki healing couldn't save her from this wound.

Controlled by a mixture of Kyuubi and her own primal instincts, Kushina ran out first in hopes of getting out of the rain, which meant leaving Ame. She went south, and was eventually subdued by Konoha ninja in the area.

When she came too, she was back to normal. She was told that Konoha had beaten Hanzo the Salamander and managed to defeat Ame and keep them from taking her, though the war wasn't over yet. Kushina just thanked them, not sure how much to say regarding what happened to her while there.

And even though she didn't yet admit it, Tsunade knew it had been her who gave Dan his lethal wounds. She deduced from the nature of the damage that it had been violent chakra-based attacks, the kind a jinchuuriki using their bijuu leave on their victims. From that day forward, Tsunade would never look at Kushina with anything other than hatred. Even after the girl did try to explain what happened.

Tsunade refused to listen to her, seeing that the man she loved died because of a jinchuuriki using their bijuu's power. And if that wasn't bad enough, that jinchuuriki was also part of her family. From that day forward, Tsunade was one of the Senju that refused acknowledge the Uzumaki as kin. And thanks to her, the trend grew.

* * *

The memory ended, and Kyuubi released the two medics. Kushina looked to him first and saw him frowning. "What did you see?" She asked, remembering that this jutsu meant he saw one of their memories too. She just wondered which of the two he saw the memories of, and what memories they were. And if those memories brought something useful to them.

"Something that really makes me question this vixen's anger." Kyuubi said, gently pointing towards Shizune, who looked like she was lost in memory rather than noting her surroundings. Tsunade meanwhile was shaking her head to clear her mind.

"Why's that? For as long as I've known her she's hated me as much as Tsunade has." Kushina replied. She looked at the apprentice of the pair, seeing the hate is the same as the master.

Kyuubi nodded. "Yes, because she's been in Tsunade's custody that entire time. Listening to her every word. Raised and molded as a person by that woman."

"Wait, you're saying she's hated me so much all this time just because this cranky old bitch wanted her to hate me?" Kushina asked.

"You're damn right I wanted her to hate you." Tsunade stated venomously. "There was absolutely no way I was going to let Dan-kun's niece be friends with his murderer."

Kushina frowned at Tsunade statement, starting to realize Shizune only heard what Tsunade wanted her to hear on the matter. "Even now you still call what I did murder in cold blood, despite my many claims of it being self-defense and something he brought on himself."

"That was just a genjutsu! A lie!" Tsunade insisted.

"Did it feel like a genjutsu you vain old hag?" Kyuubi questioned, keeping his eye on Shizune who hung her head low, hiding her expression from him. Fortunately, her scent and chakra levels gave no warning signs, but he was still wary. But he saw something in Shizune that he was hoping in Tsunade.

"That had to be a genjutsu." Tsunade insisted. "Someone with a fox in them doesn't know how to tell the truth, and makes illusions of anything they want."

Offended, Kyuubi grabbed Tsunade's left ponytail and yanked it hard enough to rip it out of her head, making her yell quiet a bit. Fortunately a kitsune barrier was already up to keep others in the area from seeing or hearing them.

"While illusions are nice, sometimes foxes prefer the direct approach." He stated, sounding like a teacher. Then he held the other ponytail but did not pull yet. "So let me ask you, is your vendetta against Kushina-chan so important to you that even now you still refuse to let it go? Do you really want to spend all of your life being pissy about losing one person? And forcing someone else to be just as pissy about it? Is it really worth it?"

"Once I get out of these chains and kill her to the point she doesn't come back again then it might be. Then I'll go find that lousy worthless son of hers and kill him for complete closure." Tsunade threatened, fire in her eyes.

Kushina growled and clenched her fists. "You'd really stoop that low? Kill my son, who's completely innocent in all this, just to spite me?"

"Absolutely. I even went to Yondaime-sama after the plans were made and asked to be the one to kill the boy when Yondaime-sama was done with him. I'll gladly kill both you and him for Dan-kun. As for your son being innocent, what a laugh. He's got the fox in him so as far as I'm concerned he inherited the guilt of Dan-kun's murder and deserves the same fate you get. I'm just going to give it to him ahead of schedule, once I find him that is."

Kyuubi growled too. "For a Senju, you're acting just like an Uchiha. You're so caught up in your own pain you refuse to let the wound heal. No, you keep it fresh and make it fester and get worse, thinking blood will fix what you forbid time to."

"Enough of this shit." Tsunade announced, struggling against her chains with renewed vigor. "I'm not going to let you of all people stop me."

Kushina grabbed the chains. "This is for my son. Kitsune Art: Foxfire Damnation Jutsu." Blue fire emerged around her hands and traveled down the chains and reached Tsunade, setting her on fire.

Tsunade screamed in agony and thrashed, but despite the fact her skin was aflame she actually felt the worst heat inside her body and spread out through the entire body. She immediately activated her Creation Rebirth Seal and tried to counter the damage, but it was like using a squirt gun on a house fire.

"Don't waste your time fighting it. This fire burns from the inside out, not the outside in like most fires." Kushina explained, still holding the chains. "It starts with your marrow then works its way up to your organs and muscles, cooking you from the inside like a microwave. Your healing jutsu will only delay the inevitable."

Tsunade couldn't understand this anyway, because the brain was one of the first parts of her to burn after her marrow, which resulted in an instant but painful death. Kushina let the fire keep burning until the only thing left was an ashy skeleton, which began to crumble slowly.

Shizune glanced to her now-deceased mentor, shedding many tears but remaining silent. "Please make it painless." She quietly requested, not looking at her captors.

"No Shizune, I've decided to not kill you just yet." Kyuubi said, surprising Kushina. "Tsunade is gone now once and for all, which offsets any plans that Namikaze had with her. That helps us greatly, but we still need information, which Tsunade did not provide. But you can. Cooperate, and you'll get to live longer."

Shizune looked at him but her expression did not change. "Why should I? You'll still kill me eventually. Better I honor my master and take these secrets to the grave like she did."

"You want to honor her?" Kyuubi asked. "The woman who used your paychecks to pay for her gambling and beer? The woman who wouldn't let you have an opinion that clashed with her own? The woman that took you from your family?"

"What?" Shizune asked, wondering if she misheard that last part.

"While you were seeing my memory, I was seeing hers. Your mother died at her hands, killed because that woman was convinced she could heal her despite the fact she was still a beginner. Tsunade could have saved your mother by handing her over to someone with more experience, but she declined, insisting she could do it on her own just fine. After all, she was Kunoichi of the Year and granddaughter of the Shodai Hokage, so everything was supposed to come naturally to her after all. The idea that she wasn't good enough yet to save a life, well she didn't consider that until it was too late." Kyuubi lectured.

The fox in human form let out a sigh, wondering how deep did the hatred go into the Senju family. But also how the hatred spread destroying many lives but also clans.

"You're lying." Shizune said. "Tsunade-sama wouldn't jeopardize a life for the sake of pride."

"But she would end one for the sake of spite?" Kushina asked, making Shizune silence herself.

"She already has." Kyuubi claimed, drawing both of their attentions. "Tsunade did feel guilty about her failure to save your mother Shizune, which is a main reason she insisted on getting a proper medic-nin program going. Your father, a councilman at the time, was a bit spiteful himself and dropped the idea right away to make her live with her grief. Later he decided to taunt her by saying he'd change his mind and push for a proper program, on the condition that Tsunade never take part in it on any level."

Shizune silently gasped. Kushina mentally frowned. 'Such a thing would be like improving Naruto's favorite ramen stand but banning him from dining there for life. A giant middle finger.'

"What happened?" Shizune asked.

"Let's just say he picked a bad time to make the offer, because Tsunade wasn't exactly sober. Plus she had just lost her brother and was more bitter than he anticipated. She obviously remembers killing him in rage, but beyond that it's fuzzy. I can only conclude she somehow covered it up, since she continued to be a ninja after that."

Shizune blinked a bit. "How do I know you're telling the truth?"

"You can't. You just have to decide for yourself. But for now, you're coming with us. I've got something in mind for you." Kyuubi said before putting his hands on her and Kushina then summoning them all to Shobikou.

"Wait, how were you able to bring her here?" Kushina asked when she saw where they were and that Shizune was still with them. "She never signed the fox contract, did she?"

"No, she didn't. But I used my chakra so it could work, like I did with the kits before, but she can't ever leave without it." Kyuubi said.

Kushina made an expression of realization. "Ah, I see. But we have to worry about it later. Knowing Namikaze he would keep close contact with Tsunade and sooner or later he will know Tsunade passed away."

"Yes. But for now we wait. We have other problems to deal with first. I am concerned on how Hanzo had another members of your family in his custody, but also how they ended up in Ame as well. But first we deal with the apprentice." Kyuubi stated, preferring to deal with one problem at a time.

"What are you going to do?" Shizune nervously asked, looking around and seeing they weren't where they last were. She looks around trying to find anything that looks familiar.

"We're going to keep an eye on you, see how long it takes you to tell us what you know." Kyuubi answered. "Kushina, take her into there." He said, pointing to Kuo's border.

"Yes Kurama-kun." The redhead said, dragging the short-haired brunette behind her. Shizune resisted a bit in fear, but Kushina kept a firm hold on the red chain around her all the way into Kuo.

"There, now you're trapped. Per say." Kyuubi said when Shizune was within the boundary. "I say that because you're completely free to leave this area. But once you do, once you cross these stones, you will turned into a fox, never be human again."

Shizune looked terrified. "But... but then.. how are you two...?" She gasped when they both smiled and showed their fox features. "You tricked me this whole time."

"Oh no. Every thing we said was honest. I am Kushina and I was brought back to life. By the very demon your master hated so much." Kushina said, laying her head on Kyuubi's shoulders making him look away embarrassed.

Shizune looked to Kyuubi and counted the tails. "You... you're the kyuubi? How did you get free of the seal on the boy?"

"That's for us to know and you not to until we say otherwise. You're the one who's going to answer our questions Kato Shizune, not us answering yours. While you're here, you better cooperate. Or else you'll become a fox like us and spend the rest of your life with my kind. Also, don't bother trying to summon any slugs to help you here. This is fox territory, no other summons allowed. Go ahead, try it if you need convincing."

"I... I can't. Tsunade-sama never let me sign the slug contract." Shizune admitted. " I always wanted to but Tsunade-sama ultimately refused for me to sign."

"Any particular reason why?" Kushina asked, sounding like she already had an idea why. 'She probably didn't want to risk her student getting more talented than her.'

Shizune shook her head. "No, just that there wasn't much point in us both being summoners if we were always together. At the time it made sense."

"Well you'll be here in this forest. You can go anywhere but not our house. You'll have to see to your own lodging and food here, but as a kunoichi you should be able to manage. If you attack anyone in any way your life is forfeit in our eyes. That especially refers to Kushina's son or anyone else they are with."

Shizune's eyes widened. "You mean he's here?" She had heard from Tsunade who heard from Jiraiya that Naruto was missing from Konoha for quite some time, though neither she nor Tsunade made it a priority to look for him. They kept their eye out for him while traveling, but that was mainly because Tsunade wasn't about to let someone else beat her to killing Naruto.

Kushina tightened the chains briefly. "You so much as spit towards him, I'll rip out your aorta."

Shizune nodded, even she knew not to mess with a protective mother. When the panic left her, she reluctantly sighed. "It looks like I have little choice but to cooperate with you. Tell me, if I do so, if I tell you everything I know, will I someday be given freedom?"

"Perhaps. We'll at least make your stay here more comfortable." Kyuubi answered. "But as for the freedom to come and go harmlessly, you won't be getting that until I'm convinced you're not going to help Namikaze in any way. And trust me, you'll be a lot happier if I'm happier." He then shifted to his fox form, but stayed human size. **"Or do you need a reminder?"**

Shizune nodded quickly in a panic. She quickly shut her eyes trying to push back the red eyes and black slits glaring at her. "Alright alright, you've made your case. I..." She paused for a moment to compose herself, looking like she was surrendering something while doing it. "I'll tell you everything I know."

**"We already know a lot. What we want to know are a few things. Where is Namikaze? Who is helping him? And what has he already accomplished?"** Kyuubi asked, wanting to know if there was some information not already recorded in their stolen portfolio. Information that could help them avoid or thwart Namikaze, Akatsuki, and Konoha.

"I don't know where he is, I haven't seen him since the day he... well, sealed you away in his son." Shizune answered.

"You mean _my_ son, not his." Kushina bitterly corrected. "He has no right to call himself a father, not after what he did."

Shizune gave her a brief apologetic look. "As for what he's accomplished, I can say one thing you might not know. He's already started moving in on the others who hold bijuu in them."

* * *

"Process complete, the bijuu is contained." A hologram of a man in a cloak said to the others in the room. His only identifying feature being purple eyes with rings.

"Good, I can finally relax." A blonde-haired man said while stretching his stiff legs. He was Deidara, missing nin of Iwa and one of the only two real people there instead of chakra projections.

A body plopped down on the ground, ignored by the others save the other real person there. That one was Akasuna no Sasori, using his Hiruko puppet, who wanted to confirm the stasis of the subject. "The jinchuuriki is dead. What should we do with the remains?"

"That is irrelevant." The purple-eyed hologram said. "Either destroy or return it to the home village as a message."

"Actually that might be a bad idea." Another hologram said, the only distinguishing features being some spiked hair. "The ninja back there might be able to determine how the extraction process was done and who did it, then warn the other villages during the process."

"I doubt they would." Deidara countered. "This village barely put up a fight when we went for the jinchuuriki. And I don't think it was because they were afraid of us. I suspect this village thought we were doing them a service."

A holographic image of Kisame nodded. "Yeah, which means they'd want us to do the same to the others. Warning the other villages would be the least of their concerns."

"Even so, destroying the body seems more appropriate and less time-consuming. Then we can move on to the next one." The spiked-haired man insisted.

"Actually we won't." The purple-eyed man said.

"Leader-sama?" Sasori asked, confused.

"The jinchuuriki for the Sanbi was killed recently. Our scouts in Kiri cannot find any traces of the bijuu's chakra anywhere, leading me to conclude we have no choice but to wait a number of years for the bijuu to reform itself and be available for us to recapture. So until then, hunting down the remaining jinchuuriki is pointless."

"But wouldn't the smart thing be to capture all we can ahead of time so when the Sanbi does return it's the last one we need to get?" Another hologram said, this one sporting a pole on their back.

"No. Our greatest advantage in acquiring the jinchuuriki is the element of surprise. Going after the remaining seven jinchuuriki right away will alert people to us. And they will be able to react before we are able to utilize our weapon properly. If we wait for the Sanbi to return to the world, by the time the villages realize someone's targeting the jinchuuriki we will be close to having all the bijuu and able to use them before they strike us first."

"So we just wait until a giant turtle resurfaces?" Sasori complained. "I really hate waiting."

"Sadly Sasori no Danna it seems inevitable for now. Besides, don't you have all the time in the world?" Deidara commented in his usual carefree way.

"Yes, but I don't like using it for something as trivial as waiting." Sasori hissed.

"Settle down you two." The leader of the group ordered. "We have managed to get this jinchuuriki, so that's something to be proud of."

"Only because by the time you gave the call-off order we already had her." Sasori complained, looking at the dead jinchuuriki in front of him. 'Shame to waste such a girl. She could have grown up to be rather pretty, even if only for a little while in her flesh body.'

"Nonetheless, we have one but will wait to get the others. Until further notice, keep checks on the remaining jinchuuriki without approaching or engaging them. Try to eliminate any threats to our group without drawing attention to ourselves. Understood?"

The group all nodded.

"Then we are dismissed until I contact you again." The leader said before fading away. The other holograms did until only Deidara and Sasori were left.

"So what do we do with the body?" Deidara asked.

"I want to see if I can make a puppet out of her." Sasori stated.

"A jinchuuriki puppet? That might be as good as your kazekage puppet if you pull it off right. Help yourself man." Deidara said.

Sasori silently took the body away with him, wondering how long until he had a new green-haired puppet to use.


End file.
